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| LesMisForever |
Going to PARISI am going to PARIS this month. Very excited about it.So, those who were there. What places related to "Les Miserables" i should see? |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Well, let's see. I've never been to Paris, but I know more than I should about Parisian geography as it relates to Les Mis... the first thing to bear in mind is that Paris has changed so much between 1830 and today that many of the places mentioned in the book have been completely obliterated. Any attempt to visit the site of the barricade or retrace the path of Javert's pursuit of Valjean with Cosette is going to run up against this problem. (Also bear in mind that I know more about Paris circa 1845 than Paris today, so I might slip up and refer to a street that has been destroyed or renamed.)
The part of the Seine where Javert joined Tosca's School of Diving looks very different today; if you went and jumped in on your visit you'd be more likely to go splat on a passing boat or contract some disease from the river water than drown, but in 1832 there actually were dangerous rapids there. The Pont-au-Change, which is the bridge he jumped off, is still there however. The site of the barricade, as I said, was obliterated in the 1850s when the Rue de la Chanvrerie was destroyed, but the Rue Mondetour is still there and intersects the Rue Rambuteau at about the point where the barricade was. You should be able to get there from the Halles metro stop. The Rue Plumet still exists, it was just renamed the Rue Oudinot. I have no idea where the house with the garden would have been on the street, probably a few blocks in from its intersection with the Boulevard des Invalides. (Don't be fooled: there is actually a street in Paris today called the Rue Plumet, but it's not the same one Hugo was talking about and has only existed since the 1880s. The real Rue Plumet was renamed Oudinot.) Of course a visit to the Jardin du Luxembourg is in order. 
After he moved out of the Gorbeau tenement, Marius went to live with his friend at 16, Rue de la Verrerie, which still exists and might even be the same building as the one that was there in 1832. Seems a trifling detail but it's one of the few addresses in Les Mis which I am 100% sure still exist--my friend has been there and taken photos. Ooooh, and you ought to catch the sewer tour. I've heard it's fascinating--as are the catacombs, which don't relate directly to Les Mis but they're really neat anyway. If you really want to know where the Cafe Musain was, I can babble a bit about that, but the changes in streets and nomenclature in that area are so confusing that even I am not 100% sure where it would have been. The closest I can get is "somewhere near the Place Edmond-Rostand at the Luxembourg metro station." |
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| LesMisForever |
OF...I love you  . Not only informative, but funny as well. The phrase "I know more about Paris circa 1845 than Paris today" gave me a good laugh, you got to love a girl who knows more about 1830/1845 than 2007. so keep "babbling" please.
Now, can i join Tosca's School of Diving ? 
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| Orestes Fasting |
I'd give you a referral, but all the graduates seem to be deceased. Very prestigious school though--I believe Virginia Woolf herself graduated in the 1940s.
Okay, here's the deal on the Cafe Musain--which probably never existed, but Hugo gives a precise enough description of its location: main entrance on the Place Saint-Michel, with the back room down a very long corridor that leads to a secret exit on the Rue des Gres. This would seem straightforward enough, since there is a Place Saint-Michel near the river, but it is not in fact the same place. Maurice Allem, editor of my annotated copy of Les Mis, has this to say: "The Place Saint-Michel was situated at the intersection of the rue de la Harpe, the rue Saint-Hyacinthe, and the rue d'Enfer at the location where the Place Edmond-Rostand is today. The breaking up of the boulevard Saint-Michel transformed this part of Paris: the rue Saint-Hyacinthe is our rue Malebranche. The square that we now call the Place Saint-Michel and which is the entrance to the boulevard, near the Seine, was then called the Place du Pont-Saint-Michel." (Translation mine.) He goes on to note that the Rue des Gres is now called the Rue Cujas. Here's Wikipedia's map of the present-day Ve arrondissement. The present-day Place Saint-Michel is at the top left by the river, and is nowhere near where the Musain would have been. The actual location is by the Luxembourg metro station, near the Rue Soufflot and the Rue de Medicis. Note the Rue Cujas just below the Sorbonne, and the Rue Malebranche. All this is made all the more confusing by the fact that the rue de la Harpe is actually near the present-day Place Saint-Michel, nowhere near where the Musain would have been. I don't think it went by another name in the 19th century; I don't know whether this is an error on Allem's part or whether I'm missing something. My only map of Paris from that time period isn't high-resolution enough to read most street names, let alone the little winding streets of the Latin Quarter. Incidentally, since Hugo mentions in the chapter "Enjolras and his Lieutenants" that Grantaire lives very close to the Cafe Musain, it is quite probable that he lived on the Rue Saint-Hyacinthe. Which makes one more allusion to add to the pile that suggests his affection for Enjolras was not platonic. |
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| Quique |
Wow, you know so much detail. I've read the book twice and can't even begin to write as much as you have, lol. I guess you do research while reading the book as well, huh? I need to do the same, as there are a ton of things I recall passing over and not really knowing where they were located or the history behind them. I need to read it a third time, hehe.
That's so cool you're going to Paris, LesMisForever. I'm jealous!
Have fun! |
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| Orestes Fasting |
I wouldn't know half of this if my old school library hadn't had a copy of the book with 300+ pages of footnotes. Most of what I typed above wasn't stuff I knew off the top of my head--I just collect resources. To write that I had to refer back to the footnotes, to the book, to Wiki's map of the present-day Ve arrondissement, to Wiki's map of Paris in the 1840s, and to the immensely useful Nomenclature des Voies database.
(The annotated copy is a good resource but I have the slight suspicion that Allem was talking out his arse; the Rue de la Harpe is up by the river and always has been, the Rue Saint-Hyacinthe seems more likely to have become the Rue Paillet than the Rue Malebranche, and Nomenclature des Voies has no record of any street simply called the Rue d'Enfer. This is what makes me really, really wish I had a close-up map of the pre-1850s Latin Quarter.) |
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| eponine5 |
You were lucky, Orestes, to have that in your school library. My school only has an abridged copy of Les Miserables  In their defense, though, it has really thick pages and a hardback cover, so it looked as thick as the real thing. Actually, they didn't even know it was abridged until I told them and pointed out the places where chapters were missing...
As for what to do in Paris, I can't really add much to what Orestes said (not that I knew more than about a sentence of it). When I went to Paris for a few days I did go to the Maison de Victor Hugo, number 6, place des Vosges. It's basically where they've preserved a few rooms, and there are a number of displays and suff. |
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| Eponine93 |
I win for the worst copy of Les Miserables in my school library- that is, there is no copy of it. I searched Les Miserables in the catalog computer and a bunch of books with titles like: "Lesbians in America" and "Do You Think You're A Lesbian?" popped up. Apparantly, the catalog saw "Les" and got overexcited. | ||
| Aimee |
I love Paris.
How long are you there for? I've been 3 times in the last four years and if you just want a list of places to visit and things to do I can give some tips. If you only want Les Mis things I'm not so hot on them but I have a few. |
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| LesMisForever |
I am going for 4 days, but i won't be alone. I will be with family. So, i will be lucky if i get a day only for myself. I know quite a lot about Paris itself. My brother has been there already, and i know many places from my own readings. I think i need a whole day for The Louvre only. So, i am looking only for "Les Miserables" tips here. |
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| Aimee |
Try The Paris Story, it's a film about Paris and its history narrated by visual representation of Victor Hugo and is good fun for all the family.
http://www.viator.com/attractions/Paris/Paris-Story/d479-3917PARSTORY Scroll down. Its right near the opera house so you can go in there and see the beautiful chandelier that inspired Phantom's set piece. Wrong show I know but its fun to go there. |
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| Aimee |
I thought of another good one. They do a tour of the sewers in Paris.  Well worth going for any les Mis fan. Hugo mentions how in his time the sewers had all been cleaned but back in the time of Valjean et Marius it was vile.
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| LesMisForever |
Thanks for tips
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| LesMisForever |
I am back from Paris.
It was great trip. Considering the constrains i had, i am happy with what i managed to see. I visited my top 3 priorities: L'ouvre, Notre Dame, and Eiffel Tower. I spent in the L'ouvre 8.5 hours, but i still didn't manage to see all of it. It is huge. I saw however about 85%-90%. Of course i saw The Mona Lisa, but i never really was a massive fan of it, and i think it is way over rated, and over hyped. My favourite painting is "Napoleon's Coronation" (It looks more like Josephine's one really). http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~jurek/images/david_consecration_of_napoleon.jpg I spent a whole 40 minutes looking at it. It is breathtaking. Absolutley AWSOME. You wouldn't believe the deatils that the painter captured. It is just stunning. My other favourite painting is that famous one by De Lacroix. http://www.artinvest2000.com/delacroix_liberty.jpg Ruben's Hall was also fascinating. The ancient stuff of "Mesopotamia" and "Egypt" was also wonderful. Notre Dame was great as well, but those stairs are damn tiring, especially when you get towards the top. They become very small. And if you thought that going up is bad, think again, going down is even worse. If you go up and down once a day, you don't need gym anymore .
There were constant refrence to the other Hugo's book (The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Eiffel Tower was just cool, especially when i went up at night. I also managed most of the other important landmarks, most notably Montmantre. The Latin Quarter is cool as well, and they sell delicious food he he. But, one of the coolest things i have seen is a wooden bridge, which is for people only. This bridge is like hundreds of small parties. People there having food, drink, playing music or just chilling out with a book. There was a guy, who was eating from a pan
As for "Les Miserables" related issues. Well, i didn't manage to see as much as i was hoping for. I was left only with few hours on the last day. I managed to see his house. I saw the bridge where Javert auditioned for Tosca's school of diving ( OF ), and i spent long time trying to locate "Rue Mondetour". It is very small street, if you can call it a street at all. However "Rue Rambiteau" was fairly easy to find. I took a picture where they intersect. There is a hotel there, so lets just elude ourselves that this was where Enjolras died . "Rue Oudinot" was maybe 30-45 minutes from our Hotel (We stayed roughly 15-20 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower), but i didn't have the chance to go there. To be honest, i didn't want to wander at night in a street with a camera in hand . But, i have an idea about the general area.
Finally, i have to mention my visit to the Luxembourg gardens. You wouldn't believe what i found there. I found Cosette's handkerchief  . I will show you the photo once it is developed .
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| Fantine |
I would love to see the photo's. Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur are my favourite places.
Did you know that rue Plumet exists? |
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| LesMisForever |
According to our resident historian OF , Rue Plumet in the novel is not the Rue Plumet now.
Rue Plumet in the novel is now Rue Oudinot, which i talked about. |
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| Fantine |
Oooh I see
How does she know that? (Uhm... OF is a girl, right... I apologise if I'm wrong). |
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| LesMisForever |
Well, she says that she is a girl, but i have my doubts 
How she knows? well, some people read a holy book, and say a prayer before bed, she study maps
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| Orestes Fasting |
http://www.v1.paris.fr/CARTO/Nomenclature/6971.nom.html Says it right there at the bottom if you want verification. (That's not where I found it, though a search for 'Plumet' in that database will bring up Rue Oudinot and the present-day Rue Plumet. I think I found it in an annotated edition of the book.)
Hell, even I've had doubts about whether I'm really a girl.
And I want to see Cosette's handkerchief. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Bumping because I'll be in Paris at the end of July.
I think I have most of the Les Mis places covered ( ). I'll be taking the train in to Paris from Montreuil-sur-Mer, and once I'm there I'll probably make stops at Hugo's house, the sewer tour, most of the places significant to the novel, etc. I might even make a short trip to Montfermeil. What I'm looking for is suggestions on, uh, non-LM related things to do/see. I'm already dead-set on seeing the Palais Garnier, Notre-Dame, and the catacombs.
So, uh, yes. What's a must-see and what's skippable? I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Montmartre, but I'll have a Metro pass so I can go pretty much anywhere in the city. Edit: And I still want to see Cosette's handkerchief. |
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| LesMisForever |
Well, I wish i could give you tips OF.
But, i didn't have the chance even to see everything i wanted to see. More, or less i saw only the "standard" places. I can give you details about The L'ouvre though. If you are little bit crazy like me about its content, then i advise you to go on Wednesday, because it stays open til 9pm. If not, then i can give you few "must see" spots. When you go to Notre Dame, make you sure you stop at the small "shop". It is your first stop. Even if you are not tired, and you don't want to buy anything, make that stop. There is a cool place in relation to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" there. Also, make sure to look from the windows, while you are still not very high. There is a great view, where you can see thousands of chimneys. The Eiffel tower...i recommend a night visit, rather than during the day. It stays open quite late. Just make you sure you don't get stuck between floors if you decide to climb down by stairs .
Once you climb to Scare Coeure (sp?), make sure you go around it, and not see the fornt only. It is quite cool from other sides as well. I also recommend a long walk from Arc de Triomphe to The L'ouvre. You will come across few cool places, including the place, where Louis XVI lost his head
....oh! and make sure to eat lots of cake
I am very, very lazy when it comes to developing pictures, but i hope i will do it soon. If you have questions about The L'ouvre, just ask. |
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| Fantine |
As for Montreuil, you should really check out the entry road into the little town, next to it there is the oldest road of Montreuil which looks really nice. It's also nice to walk around the old city walls and through the old citadel. | ||
| Orestes Fasting |
Okay, you lot, I might not be going to Paris until the end of the month, but I'm going to be spending the rest of July in Bordeaux, with internet access consisting basically of whatever wifi hotspots I can leech from. Which means I probably won't be posting regularly for about a month.
My plane leaves tomorrow. Bye-bye. |
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| Quique |
Ahh. Cool. Have fun! Tell us all about it.
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| LesMisForever |
Have a great trip
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| the_persian |
there isn't a museum called L'ouvre in Paris.there is one called the Louvre,though. | ||
| Aimee |
Have you got the photo of the hanky yet?
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| LesMisForever |
The persian...welcome to the forum, and thank you for the correction.
Aimee... , i will do my best to have those pictures developed and scanned by next weekned.
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| Orestes Fasting |
Popping in to be a shameless fangirl, because I somehow managed to find a terribly cheap hotel in Paris one block away from the site of the barricade, and a terribly twee hotel in Montreuil-sur-Mer that is actually the same hotel Hugo stayed in.
And I have confirmed reservations for both. This makes me so incredibly happy in my nerdy bits. |
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| herkind |
...and I thought I was cool for visiting Victor Hugo's grave. That is awesome. Will you be taking pictures? | ||
| Gargamel |
Your trip is so cool!
What visits have you planned? Will you do to place des Vosges at the Hugo museum? It is the appartment he rented for many years. I was so excited many years ago when I went there to see one of the original "Cosette" illustration used for the musical logo! |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Oh, I'll probably do the Hugo museum--and the sewer tour if I can bear the smell. I'm also planning to set aside at least a day to track down assorted LM- and Hugo-related locations in Paris and take pictures.
I will be posting the pictures if possible, and who knows, I might bring home a souvenir from Montreuil-sur-Mer's Spectacle Son et Lumi�re. (Also planning on another whole day for the Louvre, as well as visits to Notre-Dame, the catacombs, the Palais Garnier, the Tour Eiffel, and possibly Versailles.) |
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| Eponine93 |
I really hate to revive a dead thread... but I'm doing a powerpoint on the historical aspects of Les Mis to try to convince my teacher to take my social studies class on a trip to see the show... and did the Rue Saint-Dennis barricade really exist? I read the book in about June and remember very little, so I'm not even sure if I have the right name... | ||
| Orestes Fasting |
Well, yes and no.
The revolt of 1832 was particularly concentrated in the area around the rue Saint-Denis and the rue Saint-Martin; the barricade in Les Mis was in the rue de la Chanverrerie, which Hugo spells Chanvrerie, and which is just off the rue Saint-Denis close to the Halles. So given the location of the insurrection, it's probable that there was at least a small barricade in the rue de la Chanverrerie, but it's unlikely that it held out as long as Hugo described, or was the setting for such scenes of heroism. The real center of the revolt, and Hugo's inspiration for the revolutionaries, was the barricade in the Cloister of Saint-Merry, just off the rue Saint-Martin, led by a man named Charles Jeanne. Jeanne was particularly insistent on fighting honorably, and there's no doubt that Hugo was aware of him--he even refers to him once or twice in the barricade scenes. |
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| soph-les-mis |
OK, I know this is a bit off the topic... But I just have to say that when I read about you travelling far away just to visit the excact place in the Les Mis story, I got a bit tearful... Because I went to this old fortress with my sister, just to feel a bit like..you know, the Les Mis feeling with old streets and channons etc, and when I told my sister the reason why I actually wanted to go there, she just laughed and told me I was a weird geek. Of course, I didn't get sad or anything, but I kind of thought I was the only one to see a place just because I've read about it (or in this case listened to it). I didn't think other fans actually went to Paris to do the same thing I'm not alone!
I know I'm terrible at getting to the point, but anyway... I am always like that! "Look, it looks like the scene in Les Mis where....", "Those mountains look like those in Harry Potter!" and my family is all annoyed at me and tells me to get a life.. Les Mis IS my life! I wish all of us Les Mis fans could meet together sometime...
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| Orestes Fasting |
Yeah, I sometimes feel like I'm the only one too. Good to know I'm not alone.
A Les Mis convention or meetup would be amazing, but there probably aren't enough people to pull one off, alas. If the Broadway production is still running next summer, it might be neat to have an unofficial gathering where a bunch of the American fans all go to see the show on June 6 or something. |