On 19 October 2025, thieves wearing high-vis work wear, used a stolen furniture removals truck to get into a top floor of the Louvre in Paris, stealing pieces of the French Crown Jewels from the Galerie d'Apollon ('Apollo's Gallery'). The amazingly swift robbery took place at around 9.30am on what seemed to be a regular Sunday morning. In this podcast chat, hear Loulabelle discuss the situation with historian and Paris resident Claudine Hemingway who knows the Louvre like the back...

Canadian author Patricia Sands is so connected to France, through her novels which are most often set there in Provence. Coming out on 15 November, 2025 is her latest book The French Effect, set in Paris with the story heading down to Nice on the Cote d'Azur as well. I loved my "petit papotage" with Patricia about her experiences in France. We chatted whilst she was in Antibes in the South of France, this time road-tripping with friends, but over the past few decades she and her husband have ...

Pierrick Boyer is a celebrated French pastry chef who has earned the French highest honour of the Chevalier Merite Agricole for his services to France and French culture through his pastry work and he has called Melbourne home for over 20 years. . Paula Nikita has come to call Melbourne home for the last 5 years and is now being mentored by Pierrick to succeed as the inaugural Viennoiserie World Cup winner ad the first to represent Australia! . I was fascinated to hear their stories and to ch...

Earlier this year I road tripped around France and spent a couple of weeks in Burgundy with friends of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast, Kate and Nathan Veach. Kate and Nathan had a French restaurant in Melbourne prior to making the permanent move to France just after Covid after buying a place on the internet during the Aussie lockdowns. Since that time I have stayed in the cottage they renovated originally which was a wonderful experience. Kate and Nathan exude a warmth that makes eve...

I love road tripping in France and I aim to get there and meander the roads less travelled as often as I can! In the April/May of 2025 I took a "vacances" in France for a couple of months and embarked on 3 separate road trips with separate groups or individual friends. . Author Katherine Watt and I became great friends after she was interviewed on the Loulabelle's podcast a number of years ago and I have spent much time with her on previous visits to France where she now lives in Sain...

Eva Bonnet knew from a very early age growing up in France, that Australia was going to be a very special place for her! Eva didn't plan to come to Australia directly, but as she says, "life brought her here". Eva chatted to me about how she ended up living a French life in Melbourne. Since making the permanent move down under, Eva has found love, had a cancer diagnosis and beaten it, brought two bubbas into the world and most recently taken the socials by storm with now almost half a million...

Harriet Churchill and her husband Henry are originally from England, but spent many years living in Australia based in Melbourne originally, working in the area of sustainability, but eventually moved to regional Victoria right near me! I first heard of their story and their vineyard in the Macedon Ranges Zig Zag wines, when I was hanging out with other locals around the fire during happy hour at my local pub! I'm thrilled that I followed her up for a chat as I found our discussion abou...

Italian born Vittoria Busetti had a dream for many years of moving to Paris, so she worked a way around the obstacles in her path, packed up her Milan apartment a few years ago and took the leap to her new Parisian life! Moving all alone to a new city with a new job is not without its challenges, so after navigating through loads of situations where she struggled to find helpful info, Vittoria put together a guide for people moving to Paris as well as an Insta group which has become like a li...

Alexandra Ganipeau runs the French Language school in Melbourne "The French Hack". She has connected people in Australia to France over many years, through organising cafe catch ups as well teaching French to people of all ages. Recently I chatted to her about how she is now connecting people to France with a weekly dose of Frenchy vibes via her Weekly French Bites. Over 52 weeks Francophiles can experience a "bite" of French culture, language and fabulousness with different themes such as Fr...

Recently I travelled for a couple of months in France, road tripping from the top of the country in Normandy to the bottom at the Côte d'Azur and towards the end of my stay I enjoyed a most marvellous visit with Caroline Riddell-Clark at her Villa Florente in Menton on the Italian border. Caroline has stayed in France each year for many years, spending much of that time in Menton staying with friends who had moved there a long time ago. So during the Melbourne Covid lockdowns it was not a sur...

I am currently in France and have been road-tripping all over the place, but more on that in upcoming episodes... . At the moment I have connected with friend to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast Ruby Boukabou and in this episode we discussed some observations from this particular Cannes Film Festival. We had tickets for the opening night red carpet event and we were in the room for the opening ceremony too, to see Robert De Niro receive his honorary Palme d'Or presented by Leonardo DiCapr...

Kent Tisher is a Palliative Care Doctor in Toronto Canada who loves to unwind and shed the stress of life by traveling in France. I first chatted to Kent back in April 2023 about his love of French vacations and it was fabulous to chat again as he arrived home in Canada on the same day that I arrived in Paris! . Kent came to France this time for only 10 days. He caught the TGV direct from CDG down to the Languedoc region to end up in Pezenas near Montpellier. This is a game changer for me as ...

This episode is coming to you from Paris! Ouuuuiiiii! I have escaped Melbourne and headed to my happy place, but before my departure last week I chatted to my dear friend, author, performer, tap dancer and long time Cannes Film Festival journalist Ruby Boukabou. 2025 is the 78th festival in Cannes where Ruby and I will meet up, but even though this is my second time attending the festival, I needed this chat with Ruby to explain many of the details of the festival including the types of award...

I am about to return to Burgundy for my third visit there and I can't wait! The region is wonderful to immerse in with wonderful food, scenery and amazing wines! On my last time in Dijon I met the wonderful Emeline Pin whose business Vino Dilectio runs tasting workshops showcasing the various wines of her region. I attended a cheese and wine pairing workshop and I loved every minute of it. Emeline and I chatted about the various things tourists could do in Dijon and Burgundy/Bourgogne, such a...

Tune in to hear Loulabelle chat to Shannon Pratuch: Shannon Pratuch has moved to France from the US many years ago. She now shares her world which is most often in Paris or Brittany and shared with her gorgeous French bulldogs, through her website as well as her ThisFrench.Life YouTube and Instagram accounts. Last year Shannon compiled a series to take us virtually through many châteaux in the Loire and close to Paris, as well as a separate series highlighting the noël celebrations in...

Each year one of the highlights of the French calendar in Australia is the Alliance Française French Film Festival which commences with the gala opening night of the 36th festival at Melbourne's Astor Theatre on March 5th. But it is not only here in Oz that French film is popular. 2024 was a record breaking year for attendance at the cinema in France, with a higher percentage of the population going to see a film there than in the US. I loved chatting to the fabulous people at the Allia...

Maria Tawk made the decision to study in France a few years ago and moved from Lebanon to university in Aix-en-Provence. From dreaming as a child with her best friend about one day being in Paris together, to now living a beautiful life in Provence, Maria feels like every day she is living out the life she had only seen before in movies. It was lovely to chat to a fellow Francophile, who seems to now be where she has felt she always belonged, a place that feeds her soul. We chatted about th...

This episode is the first in Season Six of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast with me (Lou) chatting to Alex Ganipeau from The French Hack. After having many Francophiles get in touch with me about their upcoming intended travel to France, we thought it a good opportunity to chat about our experiences of planning trips to France in recent years but also plans for each of us with our intended trips coming up in 2025.With Alex being French, there is a different experience to me, as I tra...

Ma belle amie Claudine Hemingway has so much knowledge of the history of Paris, she also lives just a few minutes walk from Notre Dame, so it was fascinating to chat with her about all the goings-on for the opening of the iconic cathedral in December.In this petit papotage we discussed the cathedral's renovation, the before & after differences, how to plan your visit to the newly opened Notre Dame as well as the impact on Paris and the world of being able to again access such an important...

Annie Smithers is a celebrated French chef in Australia who has achieved a wonderful work life balance living in the country French style, growing her own produce from paddock to plate! Starting out in the early 80s in the kitchens of the famed Aussie restauranteur Stephanie Alexander, Annie has an amazing knowledge of French cooking, with its intricate techniques and traditional dishes. I love Annie's passion for working with the terroir when making up a menu. I also adored chatting wit...