Ed Yourdon
Paris, May 2014 - 032
This is the famous "Lock Bridge," officially known as the "Pont des Arts" -- just to the west of the island in the Seine where Notre Dame is located.
You can see all of the historical details here on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_des_Arts
As Wikipedia informs us, "Between 1802 and 1804, under the reign of Napoleon I, a nine-arch metallic bridge for pedestrians was constructed at the location of the present day Pont des Arts: this was the first metal bridge in Paris. The engineers Louis-Alexandre de Cessart and Jacques Dillon initially conceived of a bridge which would resemble a suspended garden, with trees, banks of flowers, and benches.
"In 1976, the Inspector of Bridges and Causeways ... reported several deficiencies on the bridge. More specifically, he noted the damage that had been caused by two aerial bombardments sustained during World War I and World War II and the harm done from the multiple collisions caused by boats. The bridge would be closed to circulation in 1977 and, in 1979, suffered a 60 metre collapse after a barge rammed into it.
"The present bridge was built between 1981 and 1984 "identically" according to the plans of Louis Arretche, who had decided to reduce the number of arches from nine to seven, allowing the look of the old bridge to be preserved while realigning the new structure with the Pont Neuf. On 27 June 1984, the newly reconstructed bridge was inaugurated by Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris."
All of which is great, but it doesn't really do justice to the real nature of the bridge, nor does it explain why it's popularly known as the "Lock Bridge." But you can see what it's all about by simply peeking at this photo: there are thousands -- maybe tens of thousands -- of small padlocks that have been ceremoniously locked around the various loops and wires of the bridge's side -- each one by a couple pledging their love to one another, and typically identified with the initials of the two, and sometimes the date when it was placed there.
It's possible that this was all inspired by a French film, "Le Pont des Arts" -- a love story which tells the impossible tale of two youths who have never before met. The movie's action unrolls in Paris between 1979 and 1980, in other words it occurs during the collapsing of the original bridge.
Wikipedia finishes its description of the bridge with this wonderful quotation from historian Kenneth Clark in his 1969 book, "Civilization":
"I am standing on the Pont des Arts in Paris. On the one side of the Seine is the harmonious, reasonable facade of the Institute of France, built as a college in about 1670. On the other bank is the Louvre, built continuously from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century: classical architecture at its most splendid and assured. Just visible upstream is the Cathedral of Notre Dame --not perhaps the most lovable of cathedrals, but the most rigorously intellectual façade in the whole of Gothic art. [...]
What is civilisation? I do not know. I can't define it in abstract terms --yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it: and I am looking at it now."
Note: I chose this as my "photo of the day" for May 25, 2014.
**************************
In the spring of 2014, we came to Paris for a week of relaxed vacationing, mostly to wander around and see some old familiar places. It was a “return” trip for both of us, though in my case I think it’s probably been more than 15 years since I was even here on a business trip.
Business trips to any city don’t really count as a “visit” -- since they basically involve flying into a busy airport at night, taking a taxi to a generic business-traveler’s hotel (a Hilton in Paris looks just like a Hilton in Cairo), and then spending several days working in the hotel (if the purpose of the trip was a seminar or computer conference), or at a client’s office (also “generic” in most cases — you can’t even tell what floor you’re on when you get off the elevator, because every floor of “open office” layouts is the same). The trip usually ends in the late afternoon or evening of the final day, with a mad dash back to the airport to catch the last plane home to NYC. Thus, a business trip to Paris is almost indistinguishable from a business trip to Omaha. Or Albany. Or Tokyo.
But I did make a few “personal” visits to Paris in the 1970s and 1980s, so I looked forward to having the chance to walk through some familiar places along the Left Bank. I’m not so interested in museums, monuments, cathedrals, or other “official” tourist spots (but yes, I have been to the Eiffel Tower, just as I’ve been to the Empire State Building in NYC), so you won’t see any photos of those places in this Flickr set.
As a photographer, I now concentrate mostly on people and street scenes. The details of the location don’t matter much to me, though I do try to geotag my photos whenever I can. But for the most part, what you’ll see here are scenes of people and local things in Paris that made me smile as I walked around …
Paris, May 2014 - 032
This is the famous "Lock Bridge," officially known as the "Pont des Arts" -- just to the west of the island in the Seine where Notre Dame is located.
You can see all of the historical details here on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_des_Arts
As Wikipedia informs us, "Between 1802 and 1804, under the reign of Napoleon I, a nine-arch metallic bridge for pedestrians was constructed at the location of the present day Pont des Arts: this was the first metal bridge in Paris. The engineers Louis-Alexandre de Cessart and Jacques Dillon initially conceived of a bridge which would resemble a suspended garden, with trees, banks of flowers, and benches.
"In 1976, the Inspector of Bridges and Causeways ... reported several deficiencies on the bridge. More specifically, he noted the damage that had been caused by two aerial bombardments sustained during World War I and World War II and the harm done from the multiple collisions caused by boats. The bridge would be closed to circulation in 1977 and, in 1979, suffered a 60 metre collapse after a barge rammed into it.
"The present bridge was built between 1981 and 1984 "identically" according to the plans of Louis Arretche, who had decided to reduce the number of arches from nine to seven, allowing the look of the old bridge to be preserved while realigning the new structure with the Pont Neuf. On 27 June 1984, the newly reconstructed bridge was inaugurated by Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris."
All of which is great, but it doesn't really do justice to the real nature of the bridge, nor does it explain why it's popularly known as the "Lock Bridge." But you can see what it's all about by simply peeking at this photo: there are thousands -- maybe tens of thousands -- of small padlocks that have been ceremoniously locked around the various loops and wires of the bridge's side -- each one by a couple pledging their love to one another, and typically identified with the initials of the two, and sometimes the date when it was placed there.
It's possible that this was all inspired by a French film, "Le Pont des Arts" -- a love story which tells the impossible tale of two youths who have never before met. The movie's action unrolls in Paris between 1979 and 1980, in other words it occurs during the collapsing of the original bridge.
Wikipedia finishes its description of the bridge with this wonderful quotation from historian Kenneth Clark in his 1969 book, "Civilization":
"I am standing on the Pont des Arts in Paris. On the one side of the Seine is the harmonious, reasonable facade of the Institute of France, built as a college in about 1670. On the other bank is the Louvre, built continuously from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century: classical architecture at its most splendid and assured. Just visible upstream is the Cathedral of Notre Dame --not perhaps the most lovable of cathedrals, but the most rigorously intellectual façade in the whole of Gothic art. [...]
What is civilisation? I do not know. I can't define it in abstract terms --yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it: and I am looking at it now."
Note: I chose this as my "photo of the day" for May 25, 2014.
**************************
In the spring of 2014, we came to Paris for a week of relaxed vacationing, mostly to wander around and see some old familiar places. It was a “return” trip for both of us, though in my case I think it’s probably been more than 15 years since I was even here on a business trip.
Business trips to any city don’t really count as a “visit” -- since they basically involve flying into a busy airport at night, taking a taxi to a generic business-traveler’s hotel (a Hilton in Paris looks just like a Hilton in Cairo), and then spending several days working in the hotel (if the purpose of the trip was a seminar or computer conference), or at a client’s office (also “generic” in most cases — you can’t even tell what floor you’re on when you get off the elevator, because every floor of “open office” layouts is the same). The trip usually ends in the late afternoon or evening of the final day, with a mad dash back to the airport to catch the last plane home to NYC. Thus, a business trip to Paris is almost indistinguishable from a business trip to Omaha. Or Albany. Or Tokyo.
But I did make a few “personal” visits to Paris in the 1970s and 1980s, so I looked forward to having the chance to walk through some familiar places along the Left Bank. I’m not so interested in museums, monuments, cathedrals, or other “official” tourist spots (but yes, I have been to the Eiffel Tower, just as I’ve been to the Empire State Building in NYC), so you won’t see any photos of those places in this Flickr set.
As a photographer, I now concentrate mostly on people and street scenes. The details of the location don’t matter much to me, though I do try to geotag my photos whenever I can. But for the most part, what you’ll see here are scenes of people and local things in Paris that made me smile as I walked around …