An Update On Our Lock On the Love Bridge

Although I'm now home in America, I'm going to keep posting as if we recently had these adventures around Europe. I'll post the dates we actually visited these locations at the start of each posts in an attempt to keep things straight.

An Update On Our Lock On the Love Bridge 

Photographed: August 30th, 2013

Before we left Kharkiv in April we placed a padlock on the so-called "Love Bridge" with the hope to visit Kharkiv again in a few years and finding our lock still there.  Plans changed a little bit as Laura was able to do some more interviews around Ukraine at the end of the summer and so she made a return trip to the bridge to see how things were going.  

Our lock was still there...it's the red one towards the middle of the photo.

It looks like the last four months have been a little rough on our poor lock.  It looks like they have painted the bridge and so our lock as a nice coat of gray paint on it and most of the printing I added to the lock has been covered or worn off.  We shall see what another few years will do to it.  

Our Lock On The Love Bridge

One of the earliest posts I wrote after arriving in Ukraine was about the "Love Bridge" we found exploring Kharkiv.  We decided that we would certainly have to take part in the tradition and leave a lock on the bridge before we left the country.  Tracking down a lock that would work for us was a little bit difficult but we did and with a little added permanent marker we were ready to go.

We picked a place on the north side  of the bridge...

...and I enjoy how our red lock stands out compared with the other ones.  Who knows what it will look like in a year or even whenever we make it back to Kharkiv.  

The tradition that goes along placing the lock on the bridge railing is that you also throw the key into the body of water that the bridge is above.  Well, we really couldn't toss our key down onto the street below so we kept the keys for a more appropriate time and a better location.  

How about off the coast of Mykonos?!

We tossed our keys into the Aegean Sea and hope to one day make our way back to Kharkiv and see if our lock is still there.

The Love Bridge

Across from the football stadium at the University of Kansas is a little garage with a red door that has the word "love" painted on it.  It's one of my favorite spots in Lawrence and although I've not seen a lot written about it if I asked someone about "the love garage" I would imagine they would know what I'm talking about.  

In Kharkiv we've found an equivalent that Laura and I have taken to calling the "Love Bridge".  Walking towards one of the larger grocery stores in town we came to a little walking bridge over one of the major streets  Someone had spray painted in broken English "love never die." It's a lovely sentiment but the people of Kharkiv have taken it to the next level.

On each of the bridge railings couples have placed a lock symbolizing their love on the bridge.

They sometimes write their name on the lock. The lock on the left with the white lettering says the names "Vitya" and "Zhena."

There are small locks, big locks, and some of the largest locks you've ever seen.

Before we leave I think that Laura and I will get a lock and add it to the collection...now where on earth do you find a lock in Ukraine???