PICTURESQUE GARDENS & STROLLS IN PARIS

3-Hour Walking Tour (350€, 1-6 people, excluding entrance fees)  

One of the oldest and best-preserved neighborhoods of Paris, our tour of the Marais focuses on the historic gardens located behind the facades of the 17^th and 18^th century townhouses. We begin our visit at the Place des Vosges, the first royal square of its kind in the city and later home to author Victor Hugo. We will learn about the square as an example of Renaissance city planning and explore its importance for the building of town houses, such as the Hôtel de Sully, whose still extant garden includes an orangery. We then continue to explore urban gardens along the Rue de Rosiers, the heart of the Jewish quarter, including the recently opened Jardin des Rosiers-Joseph-Migneret. We conclude our tour at the National Archives. Formerly the Hôtel Soubise, this townhouse is an outstanding example of 18th-century architecture and interior decoration. After viewing the interiors, we will visit the surrounding gardens designed during the First Empire.

3-Hour Garden and Museum Tour (350€, 1-6 people, excluding entrance fee) 

The Parc Monceau is one of the most stunning examples of the picturesque-style gardens that survived the French Revolution. Commissioned by Louis XVI’s cousin, the Duke du Chartres, the garden’s winding paths and wide lawns are interspersed with fake ruins, gothic archways, and a miniature pyramid that served as an ice house. Our private tour will explain the meaning of these buildings, as well as the history of the park in the 19th century, where artists such as Claude Monet painted in what was the first public park redesigned under the Second Empire. Today’s strollers enjoy the many remarkable trees and sculptures dedicated to writers and musicians including Chopin and Maupassant. We then move on to the Musée Nissim de Camondo, a private house museum dedicated to 18th-century art and interior decoration, featuring collections that are in perfect harmony with the park.

3-Hour Garden & Museum Tour (350€, 1-6 people, excluding entrance fees) 

This tour explores the fascinating history of French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn on a visit to his splendid gardens and former home, both recently restored and reopened to the public. In 1895, he bought a hôtel particulier in the nearby suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and over the next thirty years Kahn bought up parcels of land to create his own garden. Kahn planned a ‘garden à scenes,’ four interconnected areas that would reveal great periods of garden history and reference his youth in Alsace.