Meudon Castle

Unfortunately, there are no more castles in Meudon - but there used to be a royal one, located at the very top of the hill, in the heart of a hunting reserve.

This palace was destroyed by a fire around the 18th century and then demolished. Only a more recent part of the castle - the 'new' castle, also damaged by a fire, still had standing walls, and its remains were later on converted to an observatory. The Orangery, the terraces, and the 'Grande Perspective' (a wonderful view towards the South) were restored very recently. 

Here is the official 'Way of showing Meudon', a text written by Louis XIV or his son to indicate the route to follow to visit the gardens of the castle of Meudon, and discover its amazing viewpoints:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani%C3%A8re_de_montrer_Meudon 

Aligned trees in Meudon terraces

View on the Fondation d’Auteuil building

The Orangery

Porcelain making

Some samples of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres craftsmanship in progress :-) 

Porcelain details

Porcelain pieces

Hand-shaped porcelain decorations

Heritage days

Europeans Heritage Days are always a fabulous way to discover all the interesting places one usually just happens to miss ^^ 

And this year, I took this opportunity to visit (among others) the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres! 

This wonderful museum had organized guided visits of its manufactories where we could see all the different steps of porcelain making, from shaping (using a potter's wheel or moulds), glazing, decoration (special paints, gold...) to firing of the porcelain inside huge kilns. 

Having all those steps explained and - firing excepted - demonstrated truly was an incredible experience; I learned a lot and will definitely try and find other manufactories to visit! 

Shaping porcelain

Resizing porcelain

Decorating porcelain

Fall forest

Some Fall colors have started to appear in my favorite forest :-) 

A peaceful lake

Shaped leaf

Swimming