Marie-Antoinette’s Paris and Versailles

Day 1

Arrival

Arrive at your leisure and check into the fun and beautiful Hotel de Jobo in the heart of the Marais district in Paris.

In the evening, meet your travel mates to enjoy some champagne in the courtyard of the hotel and learn more about Marie Antoinette with your guide Susan Taylor-Leduc, PhD. Susan will share anecdotes and lay out the fundamentals so that you can better appreciate what the coming days have in store.

After champagne, you will enjoy a lovely dinner under the arcades of the Place des Vosges at La Place Royale.

Day 2

Le Marais

In the morning, you will visit the Cognacq Jay Museum, a small house museum in the historic heart of the Marais. You will step back in time as you learn about exceptional pastel portraits, glimmering porcelains and furniture. You will learn about how women shopped, dressed, and amused themselves in eighteenth-century Paris.

Enjoy lunch at the Le Bontemps, a charming café restaurant that’s cozy chic. Leave room for dessert as the tour will continue with a visit to the chocolatier Jacques Genin. Then,  stop by the incomparable cosmetics and perfume store Buly, where you can try products inspired by eighteenth century recipes.

In the afternoon, explore the Marais on your own. After a little rest at the hotel, or more exploring and shopping, join the group for a walk to the nearby Seine and dine at Chez Julien with a view of Notre Dame.

Day 3

Palais Royal and Tuileries

You will stroll from the hotel to the Palais Royal, where you will visit the chic shops that surround the garden. The Palais Royal was a hot spot for eighteenth shopping and entertainment. Then, you will visit the Tuileries gardens, the center of public life and one of the most magnificent examples of French gardens in Paris. You will learn about the château, now destroyed, where Marie-Antoinette lived before being sent to the Conciergerie prison across the Seine.

You will have lunch at Muscade, and discuss the history of restaurants which were invented  under these very arcades.  This restaurant’s lease dates to the 18^th century!

From the Palais Royal, you will continue to the recently opened Hôtel de la Marine, located at the Place de la Concorde. You will visit the queen’s private apartments, gloriously restored. You will also visit the room where the crown jewels were kept and then stolen during the Revolution. After dreaming of jewels, you will see the spectacular Al Thani jewel collections recently opened to the public.

After this, you can choose to enjoy free time or to walk across the Seine to the left bank in the front of the Conciergerie, where the queen was imprisoned.

For dinner tonight, you will enjoy a hearty and satisfying meal at a true delight of a restaurant near the hotel, Robert et Louise, which specializes in steak.

Day 4

Park Monceau and Musée Camondo

In the morning, you will visit the Park Monceau, built at the same time as the queen’s garden at the Petit Trianon.  You will then visit the adjacent Musée Camondo, a superb collection of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette period furniture and decorative arts. Nissim de Camondo, a Jewish collector, dedicated the museum to his son, who died in WWI.

You will have lunch at Le Camondo in the museum’s carriage house, which has been transformed into a café with a modern lunch menu.

After lunch, you can enjoy free time or continue the tour to the Chapelle Expiatoire, the tomb commissioned by Louis XVIII to commemorate his brother and former sister-in-law.

For the last meal in Paris, you will dine at L’Ardoise, a gastronomic bistro restaurant with delectable regional specialties in the 1st arrondissement.

Day 6

Versailles and Spa 

This morning, you will head to Versailles. After the short 1-hour drive, Susan will guide you through the private rooms of the King and Queen. You will have lunch at the Petit Park on the grounds before checking in to the  luxurious hotel Trianon, where you will have some free time to enjoy the spa and beautiful grounds. One spa treatment is included in the trip.

Later, you will join your travel mates for a champagne tasting before dinner at the Brasserie de Theatre, a traditional restaurant and a favorite of the local crowd!

Day 7

Versailles and Costumes

Today you will visit the Petit Trianon, an elegant neo-classical building that the queen redecorated as her private residence. She was so intent to have a ‘private’ retreat, she even built moving mirrored walls to prevent the curious from looking inside! You will then stroll through her private English gardens to the Hameau, her fake village. These are the places where she enjoyed pleasures of motherhood and entertained her closest friends, dashing admirers and a secret lover.

You will enjoy a light lunch Angelina’s. In the afternoon, you will visit the Osmotheque to explore the perfume history of France. After some free time for relaxing,  you will head to the spa for some pampering – you deserve it!

Tonight, you will get a very special photo opportunity dressed in period costume. Then, you will dine at the superb 3 Michelin star restaurant by Gordon Ramsey, a meal you won’t soon forget.

Day 7

Au Revoir!

After a sumptuous and leisurely breakfast, you will check out of the hotel and depart back to Paris. Arrangements can be made to get you to the airport or your hotel.