Jul 31, 2018
All of the drama between Marius and Cosette in this section takes place in the Luxembourg gardens. This will not be the last time we see this spot either, so I've marked it on our Google map, even though it's pretty easy to locate in Paris without a marker.
Here's an image of a young Hugo, closely matching the description of Marius, albeit somewhat better fed:
Here (French only) is an example of some of Hugo's earliest well-known poetry glorifying Napoleon, after warming to his father and his father's beliefs.