"To find someone who will love you for no reason, and to shower that person with reasons, that is the ultimate happiness"
This Friday, Valentines day is upon us once again(its happens every year you know!). In my recent trip to Germany I passed through Cologne and while exploring my friend showed me Cologne's Love Locks Bridge after a visit to Kolner Dome. Germany is not known as a romantic destination so I was taken by surprise seeing all the beautiful locks on the Hohenzollern bridge. It appears the trend from Rome's Milvian Bridge on the Tiber not only reached the Parisian Pont de l'Archevech on the Seine but made its way to Cologne as well. As trains rumble over the Hohenzollern bridge so do thousands of hearts as row after row of padlocks decorate the stretch across the river with messages of love. Various shapes and colours of padlocks all engraved with names and dates of marriages, engagements combined add up to some 40,000+ padlocks hanging on what is now Germany's Love Locks Bridge or perhaps the bridge of love as I call it. Considering the tradition in Cologne only started in 2008 the number of locks left here has grown and to 2 tons in weight, and has been weighing heavily on the hearts of many local officials who questioned how long this tradition can be sustained for. After much protest from lovers in the city they have now decided that it will continue into the foreseeable future.