Loulabelle's FrancoFiles

One of the best things about lockdown for me, was discovering podcasts. Some were amazing but I struggled to find something about France that wasn’t just a French language podcast. Then one day in my search, up popped ‘Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles’ and it has been a fun and informative ride ever since with over 80 episodes to date. In 2021, Chris and I were honoured to be interviewed by Lou Prichard back in episode 45. Lou has been a great supporter of my website and Instagram. Now the tables have turned, and I welcome her to ‘French Views’.

Lou & her husband, Paul - *Château du Riveau* - Loire Valley

Carole: Bonjour Lou. Thank you for taking time in your very busy schedule to share your story with ‘French Views’. Would you please share a bit about your background and outline what lead to your love of France?

Lou: I have always had a love of and longing for France as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, my home was filled with old music and “chanson” from my dear Papa who is a wonderful muso. He passed his love of French music onto me and both he and my Mumma loved anything to do with France. I can’t count the number of times we watched Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier movies as I grew up! Now my dear Mum has passed on, Papa and I still love to spend time together listening to French music as we potter in the garden, watching French movies, visiting French themed events in Australia and reading French books. We spend the day chattering away en français aussi!

Carole: When did you first conceive the idea of ‘Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles’? Was there a particular motivation for starting your podcast?

Lou: In the March of 2020, I was to take a trip to France with my oldest girlfriends from my school days. We planned to visit Paris and the Champagne region as a celebration for our communal 50th birthdays. In the week I was to depart, COVID hit Australia and our world started to shut down. I was in disbelief that our travel plans were to be cancelled and obviously devastated not to be able to visit my favourite place, France. In Melbourne Australia where I live, we then began the first of our lockdowns which ended up being among the longest in the world. The impact on us all of not being able to leave our homes was huge, especially to our mental health. I started listening to podcasts during my hour of allowable exercise outside per day, but found that I had so many more questions for the guests of the shows I was tuning into!

Sunflowers are everywhere through the Southwest of France

So I decided to make my own podcast and the ‘Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles’ was born! The world had only just started to connect via online platforms like zoom. It was a huge learning curve to attain all the latest equipment and IT requirements to record and publish an episode a week, but it was a challenge I grabbed with enthusiasm. I started recording in my walk-in-robe amongst my coats and dresses! This space absorbed the sound brilliantly, but I eventually graduated to a foam and French fabric lined recording studio which I built in that same space to conduct the Loulabelle’s interviews via zoom.

Carole: Have you previously worked in radio or interviewing or are these new skills you developed for your podcast?

Lou: I have a background from my youth in performing arts, including editing and recording. I was also a teacher for more than a decade which requires skills of inquiry and analysis. For the last 15 years I have worked as a Union Organiser with a large part of my role representing people at work. I have spent much time interviewing people to mediate for them and assist in finding ways forward, so communicating to tease apart a situation comes naturally now. In some ways I have always had a curious mind. I’m the sort of person who wonders what kind of lives people have when I’m looking at cottages whilst driving through a little village, or what life was like in a particular period of time for the ordinary people as well as the infamous characters of history. I was always a day dreamer as a child and still consider time when we can stop, ponder and dream as being invaluable to our daily routine and mental health.

Lou visited beautiful Colmar in December 2022 with her friend Sarah of ‘Be My Guest Immersions’

Carole: You have interviewed lots of interesting people from around the world, all connected to France, in some way and now have over 80 episodes. Wow! What has inspired you most to continue with your podcast?

Lou: Since starting the ‘Loulabelle's FrancoFiles’ podcast I’ve interviewed so many fascinating people! I've chatted to Michelin star chefs, Paris jazz singers, French authors, a Provence wine master, French celebrities in Australia such as Gabriel Gâté, French historians, Paris florists, Paris Lido dancers, château owners, Paris photographers and more! Some people more well-known than others but all with a lovely French story to tell. I've been so surprised by how much people like to chat about their connection to France! I never tire of listening to all their French related stories as they just transport me away to France! I have had some lovely feedback from listeners around the world about how the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast has kept them buoyant through some tough times. I'm loving the fact that it continues to help people in some small way after the recent (and in some places ongoing) difficult COVID times.

Carole: Can you please describe your favourite place or area in France .... so far.

Lou: Every time I travel to a new place in France I declare that it is my favourite, that I want to buy a petit cottage and move there to live happily ever after! There are so many places that pull at my heart strings as they hold wonderful souvenirs of time spent there making lifetime memories. My ultimate favourite though is the area surrounding Chinon in the Loire Valley. I just love the natural environment, the history, the architecture, the wine, the proximity to Paris. Of course this could all change... ask me again after my next road trip and I might have a new fave!

Carole: Whilst travelling in France, what strategies have you used to convert potentially difficult experiences, into ones that are enjoyable and rewarding?

Lou: When travelling I often plan ahead for the kinds of vocab that will be required. I rehearse some useful phrases en français, such as a scripted line thanking the French people I will have interactions with for their patience with my French speaking. I find they will then allow me to speak in French and even assist me to achieve what I want to say! Planning ahead is key to having a stress-free time in France, but not planning so strictly that I don't allow for the wonderful experiences that unexpectedly pop up!

Lou met Sarah in Melbourne, Australia through her love of the French language

Carole: Do you have any memorable experiences with local French people, rather than people you have arranged to interview?

Lou: I had one particular day on my first trip to Paris which still sticks in my mind as I was struck by beautiful meetings with strangers twice on that day. Both these strangers have left lasting memories with me and I’m sure I’ll never forget those experiences. It's a long story but regardless I’ll paint a picture for you:

I went in the morning to the catacombes which are a series of tunnels down underneath Paris where all the bones from many of the Paris cemeteries were moved generations ago. They’re all arranged in quite beautiful displays down there which sounds odd as they’re bones, but wandering through there is quite an amazing experience. I was walking through behind some American’s who were loudly exclaiming things about the bones and at one point I laughed out loud at something they said, and so did another bloke walking near me so I knew then that he spoke English. We struck up conversation as we moved through the various tunnels. When we got to the exit he agreed to show me the way to the ‘Shakespeare & Co’ bookstore I was looking for.

It turns out his name was Patrick and he was a Canadian astronomer working at the Bonn university in Germany but was working at the Observatory in Paris for a couple of weeks. We walked down the centre median strip of a long road which Patrick explained was known as the Paris meridian. We wandered through kids playing boules, bizarrely their school playground was in the middle of the road, through garden strips and other snippets of Parisian life going on around us. This long line, the Paris Meridian was the line that ran through the centre of Paris historically and was once the prime meridian for the world like the Greenwich line is now. Patrick explained how the Paris Observatory which was built about 1670 has a little hole in the wall on the first floor and the sun comes through that hole shining a beam of light along a lead line in the stone floor. The place that the sun hits on the lead line showed the astronomers back then what angle to place their telescope on so they could monitor the night sky and the movement of the earth. I was completely fascinated by this story and my walk with a stranger. Patrick took me past the actual Paris Observatory building which is exquisite and then delivered me to the book store I was looking for! We shook hands and he left me there. But the walk along the Paris Meridian has always stayed with me.

Later in the day I had my second interaction with a stranger. I caught the Metro out to Père-Lachaise cemetery. It is where many famous people are buried like Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Chopin and Edith Piaf, but it was at the war memorial where I stopped to see the commemoration to the soldiers who liberated Paris at the end of World War 2 where I met an old woman. She would have been aged 80 or 90. She was tending to the memorial for the French Jews who died during the war and she asked me if I had family in the war, if that’s why I was there looking at the memorial. My French wasn’t great but I was able to explain that my grandfather fought in the Pacific. The old woman went on to talk about her childhood as a Jewish child in German occupied Paris during the war and how she lost her family. It started hailing while we were there so in the end we were both drenched, hugging and in tears! A moving experience and beautiful lifetime memory to keep.

Lou’s first ever visit to what has become her favourite cafe in Paris, the *Café Saint Régis*

Carole: I know you love asking your guests this question. Can you please describe how you would spend a perfect day in France?

Lou:I have had so many days that I think are perfect, but for me, I would start early on a fresh day in late Spring on the Ile Saint-Louis with a chausson aux pommes pastry and a chocolate chaud at my fave Café Saint Regis. I'd then take the TGV to the Loire region. I love train travel in regional France, seeing the landscape change out through the window and listening to French voices all around me. I'd head to Chinon on market day and meander around the fresh produce, making purchases to cook later for dinner! After a late lunch of escagots I'd love a petit wine tasting in a cave during the afternoon before a home made dinner eaten al fresco with friends in the fading light.

Wine tasting with family in the wine tasting Cave under the *Chinon Fortresse*

Carole: Do you have a favourite French movie, TV show or book? What is it about the story involved that excited your imagination?

Lou: I love the series "L'Agence". It's a show about a real-life family of real-estate agents in Paris (a mum and dad plus their four sons) and follows their life and their work. I'm sure they make it look more glamorous than a job like that would ordinarily be but the show helps me tune my ear to listening to native French speakers speak quickly. It also immerses me in the real estate business of France, and feeds my fascination with finding out what is behind all those huge, decorative doors across Paris!

Carole: You were able to visit France during their past summer and again more recently, would you mind giving your evaluation of the effect of Covid on the tourist experience in France during that time? How did it compare to previous trips?

Lou: In Australia the impact of COVID is consistently around us with mask wearing being common. During the French summer of 2022 I was surprised that not much was different to previous trips to France, except that there weren't as many tourists as yet. I returned to France again just prior to Christmas 2022 and I noticed much more mask wearing, perhaps due to the impending flu season, but not much more outward difference than that. Any traveller prior to 2020 would be surprised with the contents of my luggage though! I now take COVID tests with me, masks, cold and flu medication, vitamins, probiotics and sanitiser. All completely unknown to the pre-COVID traveller but needed now to combat the impact of COVID. No one wants to be sick whilst travelling!

Carole: As you just mentioned, you recently returned to France. Which areas did you visit on this trip? Did you get the chance for some interviews while you were away?

Lou: I have always wanted to be in Paris for Christmas so I headed back there in December. I arrived the night before my birthday and woke up in Paris for a winter birthday for the very first time! After Paris, I headed to Lyon to attend the Fête des Lumières with my friend Sarah from ‘Be My Guest Immersions’ and recorded a podcast episode whilst I was there with her. We then went on a Christmas road trip to Colmar and Strasbourg to immerse in all the pre-Noël shenanigans.

Strasbourg Noël in *Place Kléber.* Above: Eguisheim and Kaysersberg

We visited some quaint villages in the broader Alsace region too with all the little colourful snow covered half-timbered houses and ate the most delicious traditional foods and drank some marvellous local Riesling.

Traditional serving of Riesling in Alsace in a ceramic pitcher

It is just lucky I packed my stretchy "Christmas pants" as I call them! It seemed the amount of local foods to try was never-ending! We returned to Paris in the days leading up to Noël to find the whole city buzzing with excitement! I've never experienced Paris quite like that. Tourists and locals alike were all out and about wrapped up against the cold. Almost every street, cafe and store was dressed up to celebrate and the decorations for the well known attractions in places such as Place Vendome, Galeries Lafayette and Rue Cambon were sumptuous!

Christmas Tree at the *Galeries Lafayette*

I caught up with the very lovely Emily Gaudichon (@therealemilyinparis) and met up with some new podcast guests I'll be chatting to through 2023. Mostly I just loved being able to wander and soak up all the Paris Christmas vibes!

Lou at the frozen pond in the *Jardin du Luxembourg*

Carole: Do you have any new plans for ‘Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles’ or any other projects coming up in 2023?

Lou: I started the ‘Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles’ podcast to save my mental health during COVID, but it has turned out to have given me so much more. I have now found a new purpose, a new passion and a new direction in my life which I would never have discovered if not for that period of lockdowns. I have heard from many people how the lockdowns became a time of reflection and resetting their life goals. My advice to anyone after making the leap myself to chase my French dreams, is that if you can dream it, you can do it. I believe there is nothing that can’t be achieved with determination, self-belief and hard work… and a supportive family and husband helps too! During 2023 I am now planning some road trips through a number of French regions that have so far escaped me. I also have a couple of exciting projects afoot which will help all French obsessed Aussies keep connected to France with me! I will also keep having papotages de podcast uncovering many more varied French stories!