Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles

www. LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com Kerry Milligan appears on our Australian televisions each week on Gogglebox. I loved chatting to Kerry about another aspect of her life which is her connection to France.  Kerry has always felt very connected to Ireland due to her Irish heritage but a punk party in a Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in 1981 changed her world. She met her French husband and started a jour...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Abby Dobson and Lara Goodridge are the sassy, talented, wonderful women behind the ARIA nominated French singing duo Baby et Lulu. The band name came about from their nicknames as Abby is often called "Baby" and Lara "Lulu", so the name just seemed to fit! J'adore their music, singing exclusively en français so I decided to seek them out for...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com My belle amie Karen has travelled numerous times to France (quite a lot avec moi!) and has twice stayed in the Champagne region.  I'm so jealous as unfortunately a trip planned for my old school friends and I was called off in 2020 in the week we were supposed to depart. We're all getting used to that in the time of COVID but hopefully we'll get there...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com I loved chatting to Laura Morelli as she had numerous fabulous stories to tell, both French and otherwise!  Laura is an Art Historian with a PhD from Yale. She is a best selling and award winning historical novelist, in addition to authoring numerous guidebooks for travellers having lived in 5 countries! She often highlights Venice in her work and even though this is...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com  Recently I have started thinking about what my next vacances in France will look like and about my list of places to visit that I haven’t yet been to. The top of that list is Lyon! So why Lyon? Well for regular listeners to the podcast you will know I have inherited much of my love of France from my dear Papa. I even chatted to my dad in LFF episode 29 about some of...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com In Australia watching the Olympic Games recently in 2021 was a relief for many of us in lockdown. The Paralympics is on as I write this blog and I find myself often overcome with emotion at the perseverance and inspirational stories of so many of the competitors.  I was fascinated to hear in this podcast chat from ma belle amie Sarah Zwick about the main sports that...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Molly Wilkinson has loved pastry all her life. After a brief visit to France during her College years, & also after working 9-5 in the US for a number of years (which she loved by the way!) Molly decided to follow her passion for baking and explored options to go to the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris! Initially the idea was quite scary and Molly thought ther...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com I love how loads of my and Paul's friends are mad about France just like us! Kate Bryant has been a friend of my partner Paul for over 30 years and had her first experience in France with a family for whom she nannied back in her 20s. The love of the fresh food, the slower pace of life and all things French has never left her. Kate chats to me about some memorie...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com  My conversation with gorgeous Carole Handel, writer of  blog French Views and her wonderfully enthusiastic cycling husband Chris definitely got our Frenchy vibes going! As Carole said to me afterwards, we were ready to pack our bags and jump on a plane after our chat… if only we could. We will get there eventually though. We chatted about Chris and Carole's cyc...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com J'adore catching up with my belle amie Sarah Zwick from Bayonne in south-west France! I was fascinated to hear her French perspective of Bastille Day celebrations. In France, Bastille Day is not Bastille Day! Not even le jour de la Bastille! It is always referred to as "quatorze juillet in France. Sarah had never heard it called Bastille Day until she came...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Lindy  Viandier chatted to me about her journey from being a nurse in Wales to renovating a 300 year old maison with her French husband in Burgundy. Lindy recalls her mother wearing ‘Evening in Paris’ perfume when she was a child. It came in a tiny midnight blue flacon. The label had the French translation, ‘soir de Paris’ and the name ‘Bourjois’. Lindy said, "T...

www. LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com.au J'adore chatting to my favourite French chick Sarah Zwick (from Be My Guest Immersions in the Basque region of south-west France). Having Sarah's unique perspective of Le Tour as she recalls details from her childhood as well as well-known particular culturally significant rituals that accompany Le Tour from the French perspective, is a wonderful insigh...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com This was such a beautifully honest chat, quite raw in places. I felt an instant warm connection to Christine Betts.  I have loved following Christine on social media for some time. Her posts connect me to Paris in a variety of ways. She is an author who has written a number of books set in Paris and has a particular style of writing that I find fascinating, with the...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Spring cleaning is a time of uncovering many new things and fabulous old memories! Recently our regular French correspondent from south-west France, Sarah and I talked about her finds when she was renovating her home in the Basque region. The story of how she came across the book of a particular child from over a century ago in her attic and learned of his involvemen...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Author Catherine Berry fascinated me with her story of her journey to live a French life with her family. Catherine made the decision to only speak French to her infant son which prompted her and  her husband to pull up stumps and head to France to live.  When her children were aged 6, 9 and 12 they moved to France with no work planned and no support network. They ha...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Thomas Pesquet would never have dreamed as a small child in Dieppe Normandy, that he would become a household name in France as their most well known astronaut and probably the most famous astronaut in Europe. I loved chatting to my wonderful friend Sarah Zwick from Be My Guest Immersion about Pesquet, hearing about him from the perspective he's known in France....

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com    I am always looking for ways to keep my connection with France alive whilst I'm not on French soil. Beeta Hashempour is the creator of Mon Petit Four, which has been voted as one of the #1 French food blogs in the world and one of the top Parisian lifestyle blogs of 2019! Everyday receiving the très fabuleux emails with recipes and tips from Mon Petit Four br...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com I love looking through Instagram, dreaming of long days and beautiful holidays in France! Sometimes I end up following particular accounts more than others and the way they portray their version of France just "clicks" with me. This was the case with Emily Lawrence Gazal.  I messaged her and asked if I could chat to her about her French life and got much mo...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com France through the eyes of a teenager is a multi-layered and amazing experience! The food, the sights, the shopping... all with a different perspective. I have travelled with my children in France a number of times. Each visit has been so wonderfully rewarding and the ability to look back together on our experiences has bonded us closer together as they grow older. I...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com In 2017 I was fortunate enough to take part in a most amazing and life changing trip on an immersion to France. In this episode of the podcast, you will be guided through the winding roads and petit villages, bringing alive the local rustic-ness I discovered in the Dordogne.  This episode will have the most impact listening on one device and accessing Google Earth on...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com I have travelled to France numerous times with ma belle amie Karen Grooby.  At home in Australia we try to keep our FrancoFile hearts satisfied with activities like French yoga, French themed festivals and restaurants, as well as cooking French food for our friends. Annually we also attend the Melbourne Alliance Français French Film Festival!  We have been to opening...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com Nathalie Foos has encouraged my love of France for the last decade or so at her French immersion school "A French Journey" in Melbourne, Australia. Nathalie was born in Marseille in the south of France, and spent some of her childhood in Saumur in the Loire Valley as well. I loved chatting with Nathalie about her memories of France, about taking her own chi...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com France has many wonderful traditions. I am joined in this episode by our favourite French correspondent Sarah Zwick from Be My Guest Immersions in the Pays-Basque region of South West France. Sarah spends her time talking about France and connecting with francophiles every day through her online French classes. I can personally recommend her as a current French speak...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com In the pre-COVID world when we took the freedom of travel for granted, my partner Paul and I meandered around Provence and met some amazing like minded people who have remained firm friends. Tammy and Mike Melo were among nos nouveaux amis we are now so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet. Tammy and Mike from Vancouver Canada were on their Honeymoon which tu...

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com My fascination with France has been inherited from my darling Dad. I have been so very fortunate to travel to Paris and regional France with Papa, and still learn French with him now, home in Australia. An afternoon in the garden together at his house, with French music in the background and lovely chats en français is my idea of a weekend well spent. Our shared love...