It’s a long weekend here in Melbourne and yesterday, completely on a whim, Scott and I decided to rip out and replace the insides of our built-in-robes. This decision prompted me to think about three things: Renovations – no matter how minor – always take longer than you think they will. Yep, we’ll be lucky […]
The Distant Francophile Blog
445 posts
To Frenchify Your Friday this week, we are recommending you spend a little time in a park. Or a garden. Either will do the trick. The French love their parks and gardens. This sentence is unsurprising on so many levels. Firstly, public French outdoor spaces are simply gorgeous. Secondly, and probably more importantly, with French […]
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to discover so many fellow bloggers who are as fascinated as I am with the French lifestyle and the French woman’s sense of ‘joie de vivre’. One of these is New Zealand’s Fiona Ferris. I became aware of Fiona’s work thanks to Tonya Leigh’s French Kiss Life site. For […]
You are probably aware – either via the news or the astonishing Instagram photos – that the rain has been bucketing down in Paris. To say that it has been a rather damp start to the Parisian summer is a bit of an understatement really! With so much discussion going on about the Parisian weather […]
Winter has hit Melbourne in a big way over the last couple of weeks. We’ve had rain, fog and some decidedly chilly temperatures. The minute this sort of weather arrives, my mind immediately turns to things like cashmere scarves, open fires and that most Parisian of treats, hot chocolate. Now judging by the sheer number […]
Welcome to June! If you are looking for some French inspiration this month, you’ve come to the right place. And I don’t think it is right to make you wait. Let’s get straight into it! On Paris June is such a popular time to visit Paris. I’m sure there are stacks of Distant Francophile readers […]
As you have probably figured out by now, Scott is a bit of a railway enthusiast. To most people trains are just a way of getting to and from work and offer little else, apart from an annoyance when you get stuck at a level crossing! But for Scott, they offer something more. He loves […]
Last week’s Frenchify Your Friday anniversary was an excellent opportunity for me reacquaint myself with the French Friday topics I’d written about over the year. That also meant that I had a chance to consider the topics that I’ve missed – and I’ve got to tell you that there were a few surprises on that […]
Do you ever get the feeling that someone or something is trying to get you to think about a certain topic? It happens to me all the time – although I admit that I’m often a little slow on the uptake. Sometimes it takes a while before I get the message. The most recent example […]
Last week, I attended an Alliance Française de Melbourne dinner and workshop on the topic of Exceptional Women. Unsurprisingly, all of the women featured in the lecture were French (or spent a great deal of their lives in France) and included names like Joan of Arc, Coco Chanel, Marie Curie, Brigitte Bardot and Edith Piaf. […]
I’m writing this week’s Frenchify Your Friday post with a big smile on my face. Once I hit publish on this piece, we will have shared a years worth of French Friday ideas! And that makes me smile because I remember discussing the whole Frenchify Your Friday concept with Scott twelve months ago. At the […]
One of our favourite things to do while we are travelling – either in France or anywhere else in the world – is to eat at a Michelin starred restaurant. It really is a fabulous vacation treat. And if you go at lunch time, you get the whole fine dining experience and excellent value for […]
Generally speaking, people find packing shoes for Paris a difficult task. This is the conclusion I’ve come to after numerous conversations with fellow travellers. Time and time again, I’ve been told how tricky it is to decide on which shoes to take and that it is hard to find comfortable shoes for travel. But packing shoes […]
Welcome to the latest instalment of Frenchify Your Friday. And, if you are a regular reader, you may not be surprised to learn that this week’s idea involves sugar. It seems that you can bring a whole lot of French inspiration to your day with just a touch of the sweet stuff. If you are […]
I get a real kick out of reading about other travellers experiences of France. I find it both inspirational and informative. And as a result, I spend way too much time reading blog posts about France – so much so, I’m amazed that I ever get anything else done. One of the things I love […]
If you’ve ever travelled to Paris, one thing you would have almost certainly have noticed noticed is the absolute abundance of florists. There seems to be one on almost every corner. I just adore the displays at the French florists. Bucket brimming with the freshest blooms spill out onto the footpaths, delighting passers-by with a […]
Some travellers suffer great distress when France, and most often Paris, doesn’t live up to their expectations. One of my closest friends – a very seasoned traveler – was very concerned before our first trip that France wouldn’t live up to my lofty hopes and I would join the ranks of those disappointed visitors. I […]
Hello May! I’m so glad you are here! April saw me flat out at work, delivering what may yet turn out to be the biggest project of my career. So for me, May means a little bit of downtime, which starts tomorrow with a short break in Hong Kong. Safe to say I can’t wait […]
I’ve started back at French lessons again. Hmmm – right now, I’m imagining all of you rolling your eyes and wondering if I am actually the slowest learner on the planet… It turns out that although I appear to be eternally inept, I really enjoy the process of learning the French language. I don’t even […]
Scott is a real fan of street food. No matter where in the world we visit, trying the local street food is high on his list of things to do. I, on the other hand, can take it or leave it. Most of the time I leave it, preferring to eat my food from a […]