The central romance of Les Miserables starts in the Luxembourg Gardens, where Marius, over the course of years, strolls past Cosette sitting with Jean Valjean. He mentions them sitting “at the most deserted end of the path, towards Rue de l’Ouest.” By looking at old maps of Paris and comparing them to maps of today, this road seems to line up with what is today called Rue d’Assas. Today, the section of gardens Cosette and Jean Valjean sat at is no longer a part of the gardens proper, but is instead a series of educational buildings dedicated to teaching pharmacy, art, archeology, and other subjects. This was also where the Medici fountain used to sit, and was moved after this area of the garden was removed. This change wasn’t yet made in 1862, when Hugo published the novel, but was made just three years later under reforms by Napoleon III. For people wanting to backpack this exact spot when the novel first came out, they would only have had the chance to for the first three years after its release.
By visiting the gardens, I gained a sense for how easily visiting these gardens could become a daily routine. The area is beautiful, with flower beds, statues spaced out, and a pond that has miniature sailboats floating about. At the same time, there’s nothing overly formal about the gardens, and outside the main section, has lots of more intimate pathways that make it seem like a place for daily walks rather than a place purely for tourists. I walked through the gardens, pointing out benches where I could imagine Jean Valjean and Cosette sitting. Probably not by the miniature statue of liberty I saw (placed there 20 years after Victor Hugo died), but maybe by the other trees and statues, where I imagine modern-day romances could bloom as easily as they did 200 years ago.
After visiting the Luxembourg Gardens, I waited until night time to visit the Eiffel Tower – today a quintessential symbol for Paris, but not yet built during Victor Hugo’s time, as construction began two years after his death. And for a symbol of Paris, it didn’t feel particularly Parisian, with its wiry, metallic design, compared to the more stone, marble, and wood I associate with buildings like the Opera Garnier, the Louvre, or the Notre Dame. Regardless, I found it impressive. It helped that the Champ-de-Mars right next to the Eiffel Tower is another vibrant, vivacious park full of people and energy. I expected to be incredibly underwhelmed, but instead was surprisingly awed at the structure. This specific feeling has been my reaction to Paris as a whole. I expected “Paris Syndrome,” that after hearing how Paris was the center of art, fashion, philosophy all my life, I’d inevitably be disappointed by it when I visited. But my reaction has been entirely the opposite.
As I’m sitting in my hotel room the night before my flight, I’m reflecting on the things about Paris that made me enjoy the city so much. Probably most dominant was the de emphasis on working. Rather than seeing things like food as just sustenance needed to live and keep working, food is for enjoyment. At restaurants, there’s no rush, and sitting in the environment and enjoying the atmosphere, the conversation, ordering dessert and coffee and sitting for hours is the intended goal for the meal. The same leisure mindset applies to making things like walking through the Luxembourg Gardens a daily routine. Here, I feel like the parks are more consistently full of people walking, picnicking, or reading than in Los Angeles, and I think part of that comes from seeing leisure as the primary focus of life, rather than just a pastime.
The architecture also cannot be overlooked. It feels like any time I’m walking to a destination, I pass through a handful of buildings that are just stunningly beautiful. Despite the size of Paris, it’s packed with places loaded with a past. When I was walking around the area near my apartment looking for dinner, I ended up recreating the walk where Jean Valjean and Cosette evaded Javert. When I was looking for shampoo after running out, I passed by a famous jazz club.
And I think a consequence of that is a more general appreciation of literature, culture and history. So many buildings have plaques commemorating figures in fields from science to music. The restaurant where we had our final dinner as a group had a Dostoevsky quote on the front. The cafe where a group of literary figures such as Camus and Hemingway frequented is a major attraction. Right down the street from our classroom was a cafe where Victor Hugo was a patron. Then there’s the museum.The Louvre alone would be enough, but Paris also has other art museums like the Musee l’Orangerie and Musee d’Orsay, in addition to all the niche museums like the Museum of Magic and the Paris Museum of Sewers, located right by where Jean Valjean emerges from the Sewers in the novel. For fashion, the Dior Museum might be the best museum I’ve ever visited, and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum is nearby if Dior isn’t enough. Art, fashion, history, literature, and general culture feels like a living force in this city, even moreso than I had expected. There is a Paris that exists in the mind, and there is a Paris that exists in reality. And for me, the two are not as distinct as I might have thought.