From roses in Vietnam to engraved ‘love locks’ in Germany, the world celebrates Valentine’s Day

For anyone who’s been searching for signs of love in this world, there was proof of it this Valentine’s Day on the Eiffel Tower, where a couple embraced in a kiss that was 674 steps above the avenues of Paris.

But love was also on display in far less iconic locales: A couple kissed on a park bench in Bucharest, Romania. Florists made bouquets in a flower shop in Lagos, Nigeria. Heart-shaped plaques were tied to a tree branch at a shrine in Tokyo.

Associated Press photographers on Friday captured moments of the holiday around the world.

In Germany, people walked across the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, where an estimated 500,000 “love locks” were attached, the padlocks engraved with inscriptions of lovers. In Erbstetten on the Swabian Alb, a wedding couple was made of bales of straw.

In Rome, flowers were placed next to “St. Valentine Skull” in the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Basilica. On Thursday, visitors admired the statue “Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious” during an event at the Galleria Borghese museum.

And in a different take on the tradition of giving flowers to one’s Valentine, in Cambodia’s southern Phnom Penh, villagers made flowers from corn husks in Tnout Chum Village. While back to the traditional, a florist arranged a rose bouquet outside a flower shop in Hanoi, Vietnam.