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Encore plus de neige

Paris remained magical on Sunday morning. In fact, even more so in comparison to Saturday. Throughout the day, snow continued to fall all over the city (and other parts of the country), depositing layers of powdery ice over everything as well as everyone who ventured out from their cosy apartments.

Frédéric and I went out for an impromptu date morning, but first up, after seeing Carina’s blog post, he requested if we could stopped by at the Louvre before heading up to Montmartre, my destination pick. Of course! After we wrapped ourselves well, we were out the door.

January snow in Paris

January snow in Paris

January snow in Paris

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Can we stop now with the love locks?

It is no longer a mere curiosity.

Love-lock bridges have cropped up in various locations worldwide, and Paris is no exception. On a number of occasions, I have even had the honour of giving direction to the “Pont des Clés”, as one tourist put it. It has been talked about in plenty of columns and blog articles, some of the recent ones include:

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Day 232: Sunny sunny day

We have a weekend of heatwave upon us. The forecast is for the temperature to hit over 30°C today till Monday, although there’s also a risk of rain tomorrow. It’s like it couldn’t make its minds to stay ensoleillé or not. For now though, I’m going to make the most of the sunny spot that has been missing from the city for a few weeks.

Look, isn’t Paris so beautiful on a day like this? :D

I took this photo from Pont du Caroussel, crossing the River Seine from Louvre to the quarter of St Germain (we were in search for ice-cream and were on our way to Grom). The bridge ahead is Pont des Arts (with hundreds of love locks) and in the background, you should also spot the towers and spire of Notre Dame Cathedral as well as the spire of Sainte Chapelle, both buildings standing on Île de la Cité.

Day 230: Institut de France

It has been a while since I do a night shot. Not always easy, since a long day at work is not conducive to late night photowalk, plus, given it’s still summer-ish, the day remains relatively long and it doesn’t get dark till around 9pm. Well, as the day gets shorter with upcoming seasons of autumn and winter, things may change just yet.

Institut de France, the upholder of all things cultural and educational in France, stands on the Left Bank of River Seine at one end of Pont des Arts. Home to the Académie Française (whose members’ main duty is to protect the French language) and a number other academies as well as foundations, museums and castles, the Institut was built on the former site of Nêsle gate and tower that forms part of the Medieval city wall of Paris. As far as I know, the Institut is normally not open for public visits except for certain specially arranged tours and the likes.

Day 97: Love locks

We are having a truly sunny spell at the moment. With temperature hitting low 20s°C for the next few days, it is unsurprising that everyone is out having (or currently planning) picnics, and across River Seine, Pont des Arts is quite the perfect spot. Even I was drawn to go over there quickly today, albeit only to take a few photos before heading to a friend’s for girls night in.

If you’re walking the bridge that has long been touted as lovers’ bridge, you’ll see padlocks all across the length of the bridge on both sides of the railings. The whole idea would be for couples to affirm the bond of their love to each other, represented by the lock, with the key thrown into the river, lost to seekers (and therefore those sought to break this hold).

However, the romantic that I am (not), I can’t help but wonder, what happen when love turns suffocating, as if an imprisonment, to which one party could not escape the other? And the symbolism of being under lock and key, does that stand for playing the role of somebody’s love slave? What do you think? Would you put a lock on Pont des Arts if given a chance to?


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