On the "new Pont des Arts" with Laura

Laura - Pont des Arts ("Bridge of Arts")

8:03 AM - With Laura, from Chicago, we made a long running tour of Paris, a pleasant sporting stroll on a beautiful sunny morning of March.

Do you recognize the "Pont des Arts" ("Bridge of Arts")? Where are the famous padlocks of love?
Until 2015, we could see the "Pont des Arts" overloaded with "padlocks of love".
You probably know the story: two lovers write their names on a padlock, hang it on a bridge and throw the key in the river, thus sealing their love. 

This tradition would come from Italy, from a movie adapted from a novel "Ho voglia di te", where two lovers place their padlock on a lamppost of the bridge Milvius in Rome. Inspired by the movie, the lovers in Rome decorated in their turn this bridge with their own padlocks.
The fashion quickly spread in Europe and mainly in Paris, ideal romantic city. The "Pont des Arts", attractive pedestrian footbridge, was the main target of these padlocks. Transparent panels recently had to replace these padlocks, too heavy for the bridge.

The story of the "Pont des Arts" padlocks in some images of our blogs:

• The beginning of the love padlocks fashion on the "Pont des Art" (some padlocks) 
• The fast growth of the love padlocks on the "Pont des Arts"
• The replacement, summer 2015, by temporary artistic panels

Then, no more padlock on the "Pont des Arts"? No, some smart ones find solutions:

Having left the Pont des Arts, with Laura, we explored "Saint Germain des Près" and the Latin Quarter, the left bank, then the island of "La Cité" and the right bank, the Louvre, the Palais-Royal and the beginning of the historic axis of Paris. A sport visit for sure but with numerous stops to be able to appreciate magnificent Parisian landscapes: :

The Medicis Fountain at the garden of Luxembourg,

Animal statues in the Jardin des plantes,

The "Pont Neuf" and its beautiful view on the Seine,

The pond in the Garden of the "Palais Royal"

In the Garden of the Palais Royal, we found Michel Goulet's new chairs, inspired by the metallic chairs which we usually meet in the Parisian gardens (to know more about it => here):

We returned at a good pace to take advantage of the pedestrian part of the Seine left bank.

The new pedestrian banks between the "Pont Alexandre III" and the "Pont de la Concorde"

Merci Laura !

The route of the tour: