This is for you all Miserables-Era-Paris-Freaks...

http://rumsey.geogarage.com/maps/g0890195_194.html

This is Google Maps for Paris, as it was in 1834, only 2 years after the barricades...
If she was still around, Orestes Fasting would have loved it !
It is quite easy to see the "Pont Notre Dame" where Javert commits suicide and see the "square lake" Hugo discribes.

Now you can re-read the descriptions of Paris streets in the brick !

I love it ! I guess I have to read the whole book once again. ^^
Are you sure though that every street mentioned in the book really existed? The rue Plumet for example is described as a small street that nobody knows, Hugo may have made this one up.

Knowing Hugo (well... not personnaly... ) I think all the descriptions are accurate. He was very interested in that and eventually included a very detailed description of Paris through the age in "Notre Dame de Paris". very interesting to read if you're interested in it, very boring if not... as usual with Hugo's disgressions...

Back to Rue Plumet, there is actually a Rue Plumet in Paris.

But this is not the Rue Plumet from the Novel. What was Rue Plumet in 1829 is now Rue Oudinot...

So in the link I provided, if you search for "rue Oudinot" in the search field in the bottom of the screen... TADAAAM !!! Here is Rue Plumet !

I have not read Notre dame de Paris yet, though I've read many of Hugo's plays and poems. It is true that he made a lot of research for each of his works. I admit it was hard not to skip the pages on the sewers in les Miserables.
Maybe I should print part of your map and spend a day in Paris to look for those places !
Thank you for all those informations !

You're welcome... I just love to look for those places... It's almost an addiction.
I think you're french, so you can read this page : it is a treasure : http://www.terresdecrivains.com/Le-Paris-des-Miserables

If you want to see where the baricade was, it's more tricky as most of the streets are now gone... but others are easier, like the appartment rue de l'Homme Armé or the place where Vajean gives Marius to M. Gillenormand after the barricade.
I've already done some "Paris Misérables places pilgrimage", it's a nice way to visit Paris with a purpose other than "wandering randomly in the streets"...

If you're looking for one particular place, just tell me, maybe I know it !

I've also been in Toulon, Montreuil-sur-Mer, and tomorow, I'll be in Digne ! I'm so excited ! ( I am a sick geek)

Have you done such visits for several books or are you just a very very very big Les Mis fan ?

You're right I'm french (not haaard to guess) and I actually live next to Paris so I will definitively soon spend one day to find all those places (and eat an ice cream while I am at it ). This site is fantastic !
Is there still a bagne (argh, I don't know the english word) to see in Toulon?

Well I haven't done those visits just for Les Misérables... But as I was there...
Notre Dame de Paris is of course another great novel for Paris lovers, but almost all the places are gone now. I also had a good time spotting the places for the Da Vinci Code of course, Phantom of the Opera, and some others.

There's almost nothing to see in Toulon... Just some remains of an old prison that we can guess could be the one where Valjean was.

(that was the strange moment when two french discuss in english... )

That is really neat, thank you for sharing! Especially finding Rue Plumet