Discovering Marie-Antoinette and her legacy with Expert and Award-Winning Author Susan Taylor-Leduc
Queen Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) was an exceptional garden patron. Picturesque Voyages founder and nationally certified guide, Susan Taylor-Leduc, an art historian whose scholarly career has been dedicated to the queen, has designed tours dedicated to the queen order to share her knowledge of the queen’s fascinating reign with curious travellers interested in French history, gardens, and interior design. We are happy to develop Exclusive Tours dedicated to the queen and her legacy for those who wish to delve deeply into the eighteenth-century art de vivre!
Then & Now: Each tour begins with an iBook presentation of images selected from historical archives. After the tour, you can add your own photos to create a personal souvenir of your Picturesque Voyage.
Picturesque Voyages Tours Adhere to Recommended Health and Safety Guidelines
- Masks can be provided upon request.
- Tours are limited to 6 people. Family groups may be larger.
- All garden and walking tours maintain social distancing standards.
Custom tours are our specialty. Contact us to plan a personalized itinerary for a most memorable, life-long learning experience.
Marie Antoinette: The Domain de la Reine at the Petit Trianon
4-5 hour Tour: Petit Trianon and Gardens (450€ 1-6 persons, entrance fee not included, private transportation recommended)
A special Marie-Antoinette tour entirely dedicated to the queen’s gardens at Versailles. Our tour begins at the Petit Trianon, where we see how the queen redecorated her villa, developed her English garden, and created her own private hamlet to entertain friends and family. We come to understand 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 at an additional fee. 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.
See our Exclusive Tours Page for other options on Versailles and Marie-Antoinette.
Marie-Antoinette in Paris
3 hour Tour: 350€ 1-6 persons (entrance fee not included)
This tour explores Marie-Antoinette without having to travel to Versailles. The tour begins with the Hotel de la Marine, a ‘palace within the city’ located in Place de la Concorde. Commissioned by King Louis XV, the famed neoclassical architect Jacques Ange Gabriel conceived as a of design house to showcase French savoir-faire in furniture and decorative arts and today is one of the best examples of eighteenth century interior design. This gives us an opportunity to discuss the aesthetics of the Queen and set the tone of the era. This opulence was brought to an end with the Queen’s execution on the very square in front of the palace, Place de la Concorde. We’ll shift our discuss over to the Revolutionary era as we visit the then visit the Chapelle Expiatoire, where the Queen was buried after guillotining which was converted into a memorial in honor of the royals before traveling to the Conciergerie, where the Queen was held the last three months of her life.
Let’s Eat Cake
(100€ per person, 2 person minimum, including 3 tastings)
Did the Queen actually say the famous quote still used today to represent her? Although historians concur that the queen did not utter this phrase, we do know that she appreciated sweets, especially chocolate. This tour visits some of Paris’s oldest pastry and confectionary shops as we learn about the queen’s passion for baba au rhum and chocolate. Creative chocolatier Sulpice de Debauve created chocolates for the queen, in the shape of her favorite gambling pieces! We then learn about the advent of the celebrity chef Antoine Carême, who began his career at the end of the 18th century making sugar sculptures and meringues for extravagant dinners, that he called his ” Pâtisserie pittoresque.’ This tour includes three tastings at three different venues. For those who are interested, we can plan a baking class either in Paris or Versailles.
Bagatelle: A Wager with the Queen
3-Hour Garden Tour (350€ 1-6 persons, entrance fee not included, public transportation available, private transportation recommended)
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. 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. They 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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