The photo challenge for this week is “Variations on a Theme” and for this entry I take you on a journey to Salzburg in Austria and Wroclaw in Poland.

In both cities one can find notable bridges, each one covered in padlocks. Each of the padlocks is locked, not a key in sight and many have initials scrawled across them, a token of love, a representation of being tied to one another.

Salzburg Padlocks

Unbroken Promises

Padlocks and Spires

Sea of Padlocks

The first such bridge that I would recall would be in Paris, though quite where this craze originally came from I am not sure. The cumulative weight of the locks can become a stress on the bridge and when we were in Wroclaw they began to strip the bridge of its adornments to ensure that the bridge at least would remain standing.

Do they do this near you??

And is really that romantic ?- will keep my own thoughts to myself here.