At the Pleasure of Marie-Antoinette and Josephine Bonaparte.
Queen Marie-Antoinette and Josephine Bonaparte were exceptional garden patrons. Picturesque Voyages Founder and Tour Guide Susan Taylor-Leduc, an art historian whose scholarly career has been dedicated to the queen and empress, designed these tours to share her knowledge of their fascinating careers and unpredictable destinies.
Then & Now: Each tour begins with an iBook presentation of images selected from historical archives, providing a comparative context for viewing Paris today. After the tour, you can add your own photos to create a personal souvenir of your Picturesque Voyage.
Année Napoleon: the Bicentennial of the Emperor’s Death.
2021 marks the the bicentennial of Napoleon’s death and we offering a series of tours in Paris that take advantage of the many exhibitions planned this year. These tours will remain a permanent offering after 2021 (except for the temporary exhibits). Discover these in the description below.
Picturesque Voyages Tours Adhere to Recommended Health and Safety Guidelines
- All tour participants are required to wear masks. Masks can be provided upon request.
- Tours are limited to 6 persons. Family groups may be larger.
- All garden and walking tours maintain social distancing standards.
Contact us to plan a personalized itinerary for a most memorable, life-long learning experience.
Année Napoleon Tours in and around Paris
Napoleon Bonaparte, military strategist, statesman, and Emperor, is one of the most controversial yet esteemed figures in French history. This year marks the bicentennial of Napoleon’s death. We are proposing a series of themed visits to exceptional exhibitions dedicated to the Emperor this year that can be combined with our garden tours. We are introducing new excursions to châteaux where Napoleon lived with Joséphine and his second wife Marie-Louise. Please contact us to arrange tours to these exceptional sites.
- The Napoleon Exhibition – la Villette: A blockbuster exhibition dedicated to Napoleon will be housed at the Hall de la Villette. We propose a visit to this exceptional venue followed by our tour to the la Villette gardens.
- Full-day Visit to the Invalides: Napoleon is buried at the Invalides Church which is connected to the Musée de l’Armée. The permanent collection has significant number of Napoleonic objects (including his taxidermied horse!). We suggest a visit to Napoleon’s tomb, the museum at the Invalides and then stopping by the Rodin Museum and sculpture garden.
- Full-day tour to Château de Fontainebleau: Discover how Napoleon and Josephine transformed the former royal apartments into rooms of Imperial splendeur.
- Exhibition From Marie-Antoinette to Napoleon I- Château de Rambouillet: Half-day tour to discover the recently refurbished Château de Rambouillet and then to visit to the dairy dedicated to Marie-Antoinette and restored by Napoleon for both his wives!
Marie-Antoinette at Versailles
Half-Day Tour: Grand and Petit Trianon and Gardens (minium 2 persons 350€ entrance fee included, private transportation recommended)
We have designed a special Marie-Antoinette tour entirely dedicated to the queen’s gardens at Versailles. Our tour begins at the Grand Trianon, the summer retreat three kilometers from the chateau, and then moves to the Petit Trianon, where will see how the queen redecorated her villa, developed her English garden, and then created her own village and private hamlet, learning how the queen’s gardens became the most enchanting and misunderstood sites in French history.
Please note, there is limited access to the interiors of the Hameau and reservations must be booked at least three months in advance. Please let us know us if you would like to include a visit to the interiors as part of your tour so we can arrange the reservation.
Josephine Bonaparte at Malmaison
3-Hour Garden and Museum Tour (350€ minimum 2 persons, group rates available, entrance fee included, private transportation recommended)
Located 12 kilometers outside Paris, Empress Josephine purchased the house, Le Malmaison, and transformed the grounds into a flourishing English-style garden. The house museum provides a glimpse into the private life of Napoleon and Josephine, whose passionate love affair, marriage, and divorce captivated contemporaries. Josephine found solace and amusement at Malmaison, where she dedicated herself to her garden and natural history (she raised black swans and kangaroos on the estate), and passionately pursued floriculture. Over 2,000 plants were acclimated to France for the first time at Malmaison, including purple magnolia, tree peony, hibiscus, camellias, and dahlias. She also collected more than 250 varieties of roses. Some of these varieties continue to bloom in the gardens.
Bagatelle: A Wager with the Queen
3-Hour Garden Tour (300€ minimum 2 persons, group rates available, entrance fee included, public transportation, private transportation not included)
The gardens at Bagatelle were born from a gambling wager: the Comte d’Artois bet his sister-in-law, Queen Marie-Antoinette, that he could build a pleasure pavilion and gardens in less than three months’ time. Hiring over 800 masons, builders, and gardeners, he won the bet, offering a surprise party to the queen. She discovered the sumptuous pavilion and gardens ironically inscribed with the motto “small, but suitable.” The gardens include formal parterres and an extensive English-style garden. The gardens were expanded in the 20th century by Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier, who planted an extensive rose garden.
One of the four botanic gardens of the city of Paris, Bagatelle has an exceptional collection of trees and flowers. Rare irises and roses bloom in late May and June.
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