Table of Contents for this Episode
Categories: Basque Country, French Culture, French Customs & Lifestyle, Learn French
579 Basque Country and Learning French after 50 with Deborah Pham Van Xua of Feel Good French (Jan 4)
[00:00:15] Introduction and Guest Welcome
Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 579, cinq cent soixante-dix-neuf.
Annie Sargent: Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.
[00:00:31] Today on the podcast
Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a conversation with Deborah Pham Van Xua of Feel Good French about the vibrant Basque country. Its lush landscapes, unique traditions, and wonderful cuisine.
Annie Sargent: And why learning French after 50 is not only possible, but deeply rewarding.
Annie Sargent: Deborah shares her insider tips on exploring Bayonne, Biarritz, and Saint-Jean-de-Luz because that’s the area she’s from, plus practical stress-free strategies for mastering French at any age.
Annie Sargent: This is the New Year, perhaps you aspire to improving your French? She has great suggestions for you.
[00:01:10] Podcast supporters
Annie Sargent: As we start this New Year, this podcast is still powered by chocolatine, coffee and the kindness of listeners like you. You book itinerary consults, explore Paris with my VoiceMap tours, ride along in my electric car through the Southwest of France, or support the show on Patreon. And honestly, I couldn’t do this without you!
Annie Sargent: If you want to keep this podcast going and enjoy ad-free episodes? Click the link in the show notes.
Annie Sargent: Everything I offer lives at joinusinfrance.com/boutique. Merci infiniment.
[00:01:47] Magazine segment
Annie Sargent: For the magazine part of the podcast, after my chat with Deborah today, I’ll discuss the cycling boom in Paris, and the surprising scene that I witnessed when I was in Paris last late November.
Annie Sargent: If you want all the links and the full episode transcripts, go to joinusinfrance.com/episodes. And if you’d like a handy summary each week of the conversation with all the links as well, subscribe to the newsletter, joinusinfrance.com/newsletter, and it is the best way to stay in the loop.
[00:02:31] Annie and Deborah Interview
Annie Sargent: Bonjour, Deborah Pham Van Xua, and welcome to Join Us in France.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Bonjour, Annie. Thank you very much for having me today.
Annie Sargent: It’s wonderful to have you. You are the owner of Feel Good French, and we’re going to talk about that towards the end of our conversation. It’s a company that you started to help people over 50 learn French.
Annie Sargent: You’ll get to tell us all about that, and in my head I’m going to be substituting French for Spanish, because that’s what I’m doing is learning Spanish. And it’s not at all the same as learning when you’re in your 10s and 20s and all of that.
[00:03:07] Exploring the Basque Country
Annie Sargent: But first we want to talk about the Basque Country, because that’s where you’re from, and it’s a place I visited recently, and I think it’s wonderful, but I mean, I was there recently, but I don’t spend enough time there. So tell us a little bit about yourself and your connection to the Basque Country.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yes. So it all started when I was born, because I was born in Bayonne. So I don’t know if you heard of Bayonne for Les Fete de Bayonne, and so it’s really famous for this big fete party where everyone dress up in white and red, and it’s like a mass party.
Deborah Pham van Xua: People gather, and the fact that they dress in those colors make everyone kind of equals, and I think that’s why people like this gathering. It’s a little bit similar with Les Fete de Pompelune, like the Pompelune festivity in Spain. There is also a little bit ofbullfighting, or that’s not really a, like a ethical, but that’s kind of part of the festivity. And it’s also famous for Le Jambon de Bayonne, so this, this ham, this…
Annie Sargent: Cured ham.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Cured ham, that’s the word I was looking for.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Deborah Pham van Xua: That tastes a little bit like the ham in Spain actually. And the architecture is really lovely, all those typical Basque house, you know, tall house with the red lines, and we have a lot of houses like that in Bayonne and in all those little villages in the Basque Country.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So there is definitely something, like we can feel when we are in the Basque Country due to this architecture, and yeah, there is something like very, very pretty in all those villages.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And Bayonne is, there is like a lovely river, and next to it, there is the beach. So the beach is not in Bayonne itself, it’s in Anglet, and it’s a really lovely ocean. So it’s the Atlantic side that we are in the… Just for people who don’t really know the geography, the Basque Country is in the southwest of France, so we are very close to the Spanish border, and we are next to the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So we’ve got like strong natural elements. That’s where I grew up, and that’s where I was born. So for me, I really connect with this nature, which is like very green, very lush. That also means that it rains a little bit. And the Atlantic Ocean, which is strong, like, the waves can be really powerful. It’s very different from the Mediterranean coast for this extent.
Annie Sargent: Yes, it’s not as… near as dry as the Mediterranean coast, and it is definitely more lush.
Annie Sargent: Yes, that’s an excellent word.
[00:05:50] Cultural Traditions and Language
Annie Sargent: And it’s full of regional spirit and regional traditions that I think are very strong in this part of France. Stronger than where I’m from Toulouse, where Occitanie, yes, we are part of Occitanie, but like hardly anyone speaks Occitan around here. In the Basque Country, you actually hear people, even young people speaking Basque. Did you learn it growing up?
Deborah Pham van Xua: No, I didn’t learn it. I think it’s a little bit less strong in France than in the Spanish part where with the dictatorship, it was completely forbidden to speak Basque, so there is a strong rebirth in the Spanish part of the Basque Country.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And nowadays they really, really promote it and actually try to speak it over Spanish in a lot of towns in the Spanish side.
Deborah Pham van Xua: When in France, I didn’t feel that too much when I was growing, and I have to precise that I was born in Bayonne but I grew up 20 minutes away in the other area called Leland. And over there, there was still the influence of the Basque Country because I had, for instance, a fronton. Fronton is like this wall where we play the Basque sport with a racquet, and so that was my sport for 10 years. I used to do championship.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So there was influences of the Basque Country, but not for the language. But then I went back to Bayonne for high school or secondary school, and there was people learning Basque, and you know, sometimes you just note the little word kaixo, muxu for kiss or barkatu for sorry.
Deborah Pham van Xua: You know those little words, this kind of part of people for your, for your birthday they would say zurbilunak. So there is like those little words that you know, but I didn’t take a special course to learn. It wasn’t really mandatory, so I didn’t do this, and that’s a shame because nowadays, I live in San Sebastian on the other side of the border in the Spanish Basque Country, so I’m like, "Oh, why did I not learn Basque… when I was a kid.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But yeah, it’s very complicated, because it’s a mysterious language. They cannot really track the origin of it from as far as I know, and the Basque people used to be like, whale hunters, so they traveled a lot, and sometimes there is some words that may be connected with Northern language, but when you hear one of those words, you can’t really relate to those words, you don’t have reference, so it’s a little bit like learning Chinese.
Annie Sargent: Right. Right. I took photos of some of the signs in the Basque Country. They were both in French and in Basque, and if you try to just read the Basque, you have no idea what you’re reading. Like, it is so different. If I read French and Occitan, I know pretty much what I’m reading. It’s very similar. I mean, you know, it’s familiar.
Annie Sargent: But in Basque, the words are so, so, so different. It’s really interesting.
Annie Sargent: And when I was in Bayonne, they have a Basque Country museum that’s dedicated to the history of the Basque language and traditions, and all of that. And there was a group of kids, they were probably 14, 15, so I was the only person besides them in the museum, and so, I kept bumping into them, and at first the guide was speaking French with them, and then she said, "Would you like to ask some questions?" And the kid who asked, asked in Basque, and so she responded in Basque. And then, from then on, everything was in Basque, and I was very surprised that these young people could do Basque.
Annie Sargent: Now, granted it is probably because they are in a special school where they learn Basque and all that, but I think it’s coming back even on the French side. Not as strongly, I’m sure, as the Spanish side, but it is coming back and that’s a good thing, because if you learn more languages as a kid, it’s easier on your brain to learn languages later, as we will probably discuss later.
Annie Sargent: So when you are in the Basque Country, what is your favorite thing to do? Or if you were showing… if you wanted to show your area, where would you take people? What would you recommend?
[00:10:05] Favorite Spots in the Basque Country
Deborah Pham van Xua: Well, right now I live in San Sebastian, and here it’s all about food, because there is this pincho, pincho means tapas, the pincho culture, and it’s like a gastronomic town, and it’s really renowned with Americans.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Somehow, like, Americans are coming in mass in the town these days. But it’s also… the whole area, the Basque Country, was also traveled by Ernest Hemingway. I think that’s a good reference because he traveled to do fly fishing and, so he passed by the Basque Country, and he went to those little villages, to fly fish before he was going to Le Fêtes de Pampelune.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So he… I think he crossed past this whole area. And so where I would bring people… Well, we can start with Bayonne because Bayonne is really picturesque, is really pretty, and we can go to some lovely bookstore, La Librairie de la Rue de la Pente, and we can go to the Petit Bayonne, which is the old part, to just eat in a lovely restaurant, Le Plat du Jour. And then we can go to Anglet, La Chambre d’Amour, which is a lovely beach, and we can also… you laugh at my pronunciation.
Annie Sargent: No, no, La Chambre d’Amour, I didn’t know about this one because, I mean, I’ve been to Anglet, but to just a restaurant or two. I don’t… I’ve never been to the beach in Anglet.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Ah, yeah.
Annie Sargent: But it’s called La Chambre d’Amour?
Deborah Pham van Xua: It’s called La Chambre d’Amour, and I think it’s because there is a little myth about it. There was like a lover stuck in a cave and the water came. I think it’s… that’s why it’s called La Chambre d’Amour, the bedroom love, because of this myth around those lover stuck in the cave. I think that’s the story.
Annie Sargent: Okay.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And there is actually a walk, like you can walk up until Biarritz. And Biarritz, for the people who don’t know, it’s a fancy town, I think in the old days, the aristocracy used to go there.
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And for the little story, it was supposed to host the festival de cinema, the film festival instead of Cannes, but then after, for the logistics they decided that Cannes was better. But yeah, to show you that Biarritz has a little bit this prestige, and the architecture is really beautiful.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So it’s a very beautiful town. To me, I think it’s quite posh, and there is a lot of secondary houses, so it’s missing this kind of lively character to it, that’s why I would… I prefer, but I think it’s, you have to see this.
Deborah Pham van Xua: You have to go to Biarritz and go to Le Port des Pecheurs. I like the fishing area and then Le Port-Vieux, this beach which is always calm because there is… it’s like a creek, there is no wave, and everyone swims there. There is a group of people, Les Ours Blancs, that go there to swim every day of the year, even 31st of December, they go there.
Annie Sargent: And this is all in Biarritz?
Deborah Pham van Xua: This is all in Biarritz.
Annie Sargent: Okay. Okay.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. And you have Le Rocher de la Vierge which is, it used to be my granddad’s because my granddad ended up in Biarritz in the old days. That was my granddad’s favorite spot Le Rocher de la Vierge, and it’s like a beautiful rock, where apparently, there is also a myth around it. The story is like a boat saw the light and then kind of saved the boat, I think. So there, it’s called the Le Rocher de la Vierge. And then we can leave the Biarritz…. …………………….. and we can go to those little villages, little bit smaller, like Saint-Jean-de-Luz, which is really pretty. It’s a little bit similar but a little bit more, I’d say fisherman. So there is more, like, this fishing vibe, but it’s very picturesque as well. So we have all those lovely houses. The port is really beautiful. And I would go to the market, I would buy some fish. And also there is the beach within the town, so that’s something to say as well. It’s not that common to have a town that hosts a beach and a swimmable beach.
Annie Sargent: Saint-Jean-de-Luz is interesting because on one side you have… it’s like a… it almost looks like a jetty or something. And on one side you have the port and on the other side you have the sandy beach.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: It’s really striking that it’s so close. For people who want to go have a swim in the morning, it’s perfect. And in Saint-Jean-de-Luz I saw so many bikes. Like, so manyelectric bikes especially. One guy actually mentioned to me that when he’s in Saint-Jean-de-Luz he parks his car and he never moves it again because in the summer it can be very congested, and so he gets around on his bike the rest of the time that he’s there. And these are all places with plenty of money, all right? La Maison de l’Enfant, I think it’s called. It’s on the port side. I mean, they’re selling it for €16 million. It’s a nice place, but this is not a cheap, okay? This is not a cheap fisherman’s village where you’re going to get a little hut, okay? No, no, no, nothing like that. Plenty of money there, but it is very, very, very nice. And lots of nice places to eat and relax and enjoy.
Annie Sargent: There’s plenty of history, too. There was, when I was there, there was a tour going on. I didn’t listen to the tour. I wasn’t… I hadn’t signed up for it, so… but I overheard the guy mention a few…
Deborah Pham van Xua: Mm-hmm.
Annie Sargent: … the key historical things that were very interesting. So these are places where you can do some cultural, but also some nature, some cooking, some enjoying of the beach, some enjoying of the shopping. There’s plenty of shopping in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Oui. Lovely boutiques.
Annie Sargent: Yes. Also in Biarritz, it’s kind of the same, you can do this. I would say if you don’t want it to be super crowded, I would avoid June, July, August, and even the first half of September.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Exactly.
Annie Sargent: Because it’s going to be packed.
Deborah Pham van Xua: It becomes so popular. And they often say that it’s like the second home of the Parisien. The Parisien love to come to the Basque Country. Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Guéret, which is the next town after, which is very small but very pretty, and the restaurants are lovely to eat seafood.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But yes, I agree that from July… from July, August are tough. And August I think it’s really crowded. So it’s maybe better to go more inland. L’intérieur, we call it. I think it’s better to go and enjoy, if you want to swim, you can go to the river. There is a lot of little rivers, if you can bear the… the very cold water.
Annie Sargent: It is cold. And It moves. I mean, this is not like a pond, okay?
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, you can go rafting. Yeah, I think L’intérieur, it’s so pretty. You have little village, like Sarres, Ainhoa. Well, Espelette is very touristic with all those houses where the Espelette dry.
Annie Sargent: Espelette feels like Disneyland of itself.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Because I’ve been to Espelette in the past and it was, you know, there were tourists, but this time it felt like Disneyland. It has moved in a direction that I think they will regret because at least in… And I was there in June, late June, and it was just really Disneylandesque. Although it was mostly French people. I heard a lot of French.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. Because it’s so tiny and it’s so full of tourists, I think that’s a contrast. And yeah, there is something that I invite you to do if you are in this area. I don’t know if it’s the second Sunday of the month, yet to be confirmed, but there is a secondhand, like, a flea market in a little village called Ahetz, which is not far from Bidart. Bidart is the coastal town, and Ahetz is a little bit more inland.
Annie Sargent: Ahetz? How would you spell that?
Deborah Pham van Xua: Ahetz. A-H-E-T-Z. I think, Ahetz.
Annie Sargent: Okay.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. It’s a small village, like very, very cute village. And this very Sunday, the whole village become a flea market. And it’s one of the best flea markets I ever been. A lot of antiquity. So you have different kind of stores. You have, like, this pure antiquity store if you have a house around…. and you want to furnish your house, that’s the best place to go. It’s so beautiful.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, I want to buy everything. The first time I went, I didn’t buy one thing because I had this, you know, light-headed, it was like too many information. So I was like, "Oh." Yeah, I was like, "Oh, I want to buy everything." So yeah, Ahetz is really, really nice.
[00:18:40] Basque Cuisine and Local Delicacies
Annie Sargent: And the one thing that French people buy a lot when they go to Basque country is cloth, tablecloths,You can buy this nappe cirée. So it kind of, has a little bit of waxy material into it, and they’re very good, they’re easy to clean, they’re fantastic. Every time I go to Basque Country, I buy some.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, it’s the best gift to bring back because it’s very classy.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: The pattern.
Annie Sargent: It’s like stripes of bright colors and it… if you can find the hues that go well in your home, it’s very nice. I mean, people always talk about Provence and the cloths in Provence. I prefer the cloths in Basque Country. I think it’s nicer than the stuff in Provence.
Deborah Pham van Xua: As you mentioned, there is a lot of traditions in the Basque Country, so you fill it with those pattern, you fill it with the little basket, the way they are done. I think the Basque people, they like traditions, and they like quality. So even you, you fill it with the food. The food is simple. There is no, like, tons of spices. You have the piment d’Espelette, salt, le sel, poivre, pepper, and good oil. It’s simple, but the ingredients are good. So yeah, I think you will really feel the flavor of the vegetables, of the meat, in the Basque Country.
Annie Sargent: And piment d’Espelette is wonderful because it is like a pepper, it’s not spicier than a black pepper, but it has a flavor to it. It has a different flavor to it. And so if you want a nicely flavored pepper dish, piment d’Espelette is very good. And of course, pipérade is a local dish with onion and peppers, and piment d’Espelette. It’s a vegan dish. You know, it’s olive oil, peppers, onion, and piment d’Espelette. Or you can do poulet basquaise, which is essentially the same thing, but you add chicken to it pretty much, you know?
Deborah Pham van Xua: Hmm.
Annie Sargent: I’m making you hungry?
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. Yeah, it’s about time.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Annie Sargent: Yes. It’s a beautiful place.
[00:20:43] Basque Churches
Annie Sargent: Now, some of the things I did, I went to a lot of churches. I love to go into churches. And the Basque churches are really different because they have this wooden structure inside. And what I learned, and I’m going to ask you if this is what you’ve heard as well, is that in a lot of places in France… Okay, so the Catholic Church was very well established in a lot of parts of France. But in the Basque Country, it was a little slower coming. And when they did come to the Basque Country, all of a sudden there were, the churches needed to be expanded. And instead of breaking the walls and adding to the sides of the church, they decided to put wooden galleries inside of the church, and so you could fit more people.
Annie Sargent: And it was very, you know, tradition where you put the men on this side, the women on this side, and that sort of thing. But that’s what they did in Catholic Church up until not that long ago. I mean, in my childhood they had barely stopped putting the women on one side and the men on the other, and I’m not that old. I just turned 60.But these wooden structures inside of the churches are really stunning, I think.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, very beautiful. When you go to visit places, it’s interesting to see the histories through the churches or the cathedral.
[00:22:02] Unique Basque Sports
Deborah Pham van Xua: And it remind me as well to go to see a pelote Basque game, because that’s also very Basque, and you only find that in the Basque Country. I heard that as well in some part of the USA, like Miami, somehow there is like a diaspora, a little Basque diaspora, and they also play pelote Basque. But it’s very, very common there. Pelote Basque is a sport, there is a lot of category within pelote Basque. There is the pala, this wooden racket. There is la main nue, it’s only with the naked hands that they play with the ball. It’s quite tough on the hand.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And there is Punta cesta. And it’s like a… I don’t know how to explain this, like a basket, like a long basket.
Annie Sargent: Exactly.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And you can throw the ball very, very far with it. You see the people always wear white and red, like in the ƒête de Bayonne, and it’s very traditional.
Annie Sargent: Well, this is from the museum. So these are old types of baskets. And one thing that I learned from the Musée Basque is that they’ve had… there are 20 different official types of Basque games. So that’s one of the reasons why. So it’s with bare hand. And I saw some kids practicing with their bare hands against the fronton. I asked the lady, and it was right outside of the Basque Museum, there’s a small Musée de la Pelote Basque in one of the villages. It might have been Sarres, I can’t remember which one it is.
Annie Sargent: I asked, "Why do they do this barehanded?" And she said, "Oh, the young ones we start them with bare hand because that way they get used to how much it hurts." And then they can progress to other methods, but that would be tough. That would really be tough.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And it’s so simple, so simple with your bare hand and the wall, it’s like the simplest sport.
Annie Sargent: What type did you play? Tell us a little bit about what you did as a kid.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, so me, I was born in Bayonne, because it was the closest hospital, but I grew up in Les Landes, so a little bit more north. So it’s part of the same region. Nowadays it’s called Nouvelle-Aquitaine, but it’s another department.
Annie Sargent: Right.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Les Landes it’s called. It’s also close to the coast. And in my village there was le fronton, which is one of the wall you play against, and there was also… Because there is different wall, and there was also mur à gauche, which is a wall with a left wall, and tranquille, which is there is three walls, it’s a little bit like a squash place. Like a squash court.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: I was born left-handed. So, someone told me in the village, "You have to go and play pala because it’s really good to be left-handed." So yeah, that was the local sport around. And I went to play, and apparently, I was good so I kept playing and I started to do championship with Stephanie, my best friend and partner. So we were playing championship, so we were dressing up in white and red and we were going to all those villages playing against other people. So that was really fun, like that was my Saturday mornings for 10 years, I was doing that. And nowadays people don’t believe me because I have, like, those slim arm, and they’re like … you don’t play pala."
Deborah Pham van Xua: But yeah, in the end it’s the placement because depends how you place your arm, and yeah, so that was fun, and that was really a Basque thing of me to do, even though I lived in Les Landes.
Annie Sargent: Yes, so pala is one where you kind of throw the ball. Let’s see, I saw it in the museum. I don’t remember what they explained. It’s not as immediate, right? It’s like you go further with the ball.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. So you have this wooden racket, that you have to hold very tight, and we use… We don’t use a tennis ball, you can to start with, but we use those black balls and they have little dots, and the dots represents how much they bounce.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So you got the, for instance white dot don’t bounce much, so it’s a bit harder, you need a bit more strength, and you need to hit, you need to warm up the ball as well. So that’s quite fun at the beginning, you need to warm it up.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, you have to first, the ball needs to bounce, and you take a little bit of distance, you have to place yourself well, and then you have to aim the ball and go against the wall. And then every time you can either take it volley, like you can take it to curl it, but it’s not that common. You often take it after one bounce, you take it. And when we play with a partner, there is someone in the front and someone in the back.
Annie Sargent: Right, right. Oh, it’d be fun, I’ll try and find some video, some YouTube video of this sort of sport, because it’s really fun to watch. It’s very different from what we’re used to.
[00:26:39] Travel Tips and Recommendations
Annie Sargent: We want to get to the language learning, quickly now, but I have to say, the Basque country is really, really charming, and the worst thing you could do is go and not spend enough time. You really need a few days, at least a week, that’s the minimum.
Annie Sargent: Some of the things I saw, I was very… Edmond Rostand had a beautiful home built there, it’s in… I can’t remember the name of the town, I’ll put it in the show notes if it doesn’t come back to me.
Annie Sargent: But, because he made a lot of money with Cyrano de Bergerac, right? So he was an author. He made a lot of money with Cyrano de Bergerac and he had himself a beautiful Basque style home built, and it was gorgeous inside. Really, really nice.
Annie Sargent: So you can visit… Again, you have cultural visits. There are little museums, but I would recommend, you know, come with an electric bike or rent an electric bike, go from all these villages. It’s very hilly. Very, very hilly, okay?
Annie Sargent: The villages are very often kind of steep, so don’t think this is going to be super easy. But it is very, very, very beautiful. And just, I would say find a place maybe on the coast to spend a few days, and then on another place inland to spend a few days, and travel around from there.
Deborah Pham van Xua: If the travelers don’t have a car, I wanted to say that the train for instance starts in Bordeaux, and you have this train that goes up until Hendaye, which is the village next to the border with Spain. So you can stop in every cute little town. So you can stop in Biarritz and Jean de Luz, Guéthary, and for those that are the coastal towns.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But it’s also possible to, if you pay extra, you can also bring a bike in France in the train. So that’s really good.
[00:28:29] Exploring the Vélodyssée and Les Landes
Deborah Pham van Xua: And it’s also, there is this whole… I don’t know if you heard of the Vélodyssée?
Annie Sargent: Yes, yes. Do tell us, yes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. The Vélodyssée starts there, I think it starts in Hendaye. So it’s a trip that you can do by bike. And you got those cycling paths that are really handy all along. People can camp. If you are brave enough, or if you have electric bike, you can bring a tent. It will be a bit heavy, but it’s very safe to cycle, it’s a lovely road. And then you cross past the area where I grew up, Les Landes, which are, like, completely different, because in the Basque Country, as we said, it’s so beautiful. Honestly, it’s more beautiful than Les Landes to me, because of the architecture, because of the culture, which is ancestoral culture, so much things to do.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But then, Les Landes in the summer, it is more low-key, and also, the beaches are way broader. It’s infinite, it’s large, and you’ve got the pine trees next to it. So it’s like ocean, forest, markets, and it’s really lovely in the summer.
Deborah Pham van Xua: A lot ofSpanish people actually go to the campings in Les Landes because it’s just a really nice place to hang out in the summer. Even though it gets a little bit crowded, everything these days coastal is really popular.
[00:29:43] The Unique Climate and Culture of Les Landes
Deborah Pham van Xua: I recommend to spend a bit of time in this area, that really change with the year, because it used to be very swampy, and people didn’t like this area in the old days. But, Napoleon planted a lot of pine trees, and that changed a little bit the ecosystem. And now it’s really, it’s such a lovely place and really popular.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. The Les Landes is famous for having these tall trees, lots and lots of trees, lots of forest, a kind of monoculture kind of trees. They’re all the same, but… And the other thing that people know is La Dune du Pilat, which is very close to Arcachon. I mean, there’s so many… it’s endless. I mean, I do itinerary consults with people, and I can give them specific directions based on what they want, but we’ve given you a lot of possibilities right here. Just explore that part of France a little bit.
Annie Sargent: And the weather, even though it rains some, but I think anytime between March and June would be lovely, and then September through November probably would be lovely. I’m not sure what it’s like December, January, February, maybe it’s wetter.
Deborah Pham van Xua: In San Sebastian, in Spain, we say that Les Landes has a micro climate. That’s what they say. Because here it rains so hard in the winter, and they say that in Les Landes it’s a bitsofter.
Annie Sargent: Oh.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But it stills rain. It’s not the Mediterranean. So, that’s what I want to say to the people who still don’t know France and wants to investigate or maybe wants to move to France, you really have to come first and have a feel for it, because you have to see this nature. It’s so different from the East Coast.And personally, I tried to live in Valencia on the Mediterranean side of Spain, not France, but I couldn’t relate to the nature. It was too dry for me. I was like, "Oh, it doesn’t… Okay, there is nice little cove around Valencia," but I was like, "This nature doesn’t speak to me."
Annie Sargent: And that’s why I’m back in the Basque Country, because it’s green, it’s lush. I’ve got mountains, I’ve got ocean, I love the waves, I love the breeze. So yeah, it’s something that’s, maybe if you grew up in California, maybe it’s something that is some people compare a little bit with California, I don’t know. Yeah. All right.
[00:31:52] Feel Good French: Teaching French After 50
Annie Sargent: So let’s talk about your Feel Good French, your company, and learning French after 50, because… Or any language, as a matter of fact. It changes things, doesn’t it?
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yes. So just to let you know a little bit about Feel Good French.
Deborah Pham van Xua: I’ve been teaching French for about… more than 10 years now. It was an easy way for me to stay abroad, because I studied political sciences at first, then I did a master in French teaching, but I was living in Spain, and I wanted to stay, and I decided to become a teacher for this reason.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And then it made me travel a lot. So I traveled the world. I taught French for a year in China, Madrid, Bilbao, Lisbon, New Zealand, a little bit everywhere. And then about, I don’t know, seven years ago, I started to teach online. And then it became really big with the pandemic, with the lockdown. And so I was working fully online at this stage, and I really enjoyed it. I think it’s good because people feel actually really comfortable and stress-free in their own environment. So I think that’s good for the learners as well to be in a peaceful environment. I started to teach online this way, and then the company I worked for stopped and tell me I could keep some students, and that’s when I decided to create my own school.And I wanted a school that looks like me, because I’m really interested by wellbeing, by mindset and coaching. So I was like, "I want to teach French, but I also want to help people to feel comfortable to… not to stress." I want to help the people who freeze when they speak. And so that’s how… like by accident, a niche came to me, and they were the 50+ learners, and I realized that’s perfect for me, because there are people with like specific needs because they feel that it’s a bit harder to learn. And that’s where I was bringing my expertise in, like, helping them to speak with the confidence they needed.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So that’s what I do in Feel Good French. I listen to the 50+ learner needs, and I tailor-make the class for them, either in group or in one-to-one…. and I’m really enjoying it. I kind of fell in love for those kind of learners, and now, that’s all I do.
[00:34:10] Effective Language Learning Techniques
Annie Sargent: Mm-hmm. So, I mean, you look like you’re in your late 20s, early 30s yourself, so you haven’t experienced learning a language at a later stage. So, the first thing you mentioned is be comfortable in your environment, don’t stress, you know, but imagine somebody is planning on moving to France, and they would like to get, you know, through some French quickly, what would you recommend they do to prepare?
Deborah Pham van Xua: Well, A lot of people like the apps, because it’s fun, and they use this spaced repetition. Well, Duolingo, it’s very popular. It’s a go-to, a lot of people use that. I would say, maybe it could be fun to start with that. It’s not… You don’t have to take it as a complete learning experience. That won’t bring you as far. But if you want just to get to know a few words at the beginning, why not? You can start with Duolingo or Busuu. There is plenty of application out there. There is also Quizlet to memorize the new vocabulary. You can start with an app. You can have some books if you prefer to write. You can use some books to practice French. You can use some podcasts. There is a lot of YouTube videos. It depends on which kind of learner you are.
Deborah Pham van Xua: I think people nowadays are quite visuals. But I would say, for French, the visual part could be a little bit deceiving for the pronunciation, as you might know already, so I often say to my students sometimes, "Close your eyes. Don’t look at the word, just listen. Use your ears and repeat like a parrot." So, I think that’s really important. You can practice what I call shadowing. You listen to a little YouTube video, and you repeat after the French speaker exactly the way the French speaks. For instance, if I say: Bonjour Je m’appelle Deborah, and you will repeat exactly like me: Bonjour Je m’appelle Deborah.
Annie Sargent: Right. Intonation matters as well. It’s not just the words, it’s also intonation.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Exactly.
Annie Sargent: And in English, it’s huge. In English, it’s huge. Like, I spent so much time… The reason why I can speak English fairly well is because I spent a lot of time listening and repeating exactly. Don’t even look at the words. That is such a good advice. Don’t look at the words. Just listen and repeat.
Deborah Pham van Xua: I am shocked because I can see some students having those big blocks with the pronunciation. They just can’t pronounce the word. And as soon as I say, "Close your eyes, breathe, and listen to me and repeat," suddenly they speak like a French person. They are, like, very… They say it perfectly. So, it’s because we don’t use a lot our ears, except musicians or people who are more musical.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But I think for French it’s important because a lot of people study with the app and the books, as I mentioned, when you do it on your own, when it’s a bit DIY.
Deborah Pham van Xua: But then they come to France, and they are shocked with the gap because, with the liaison, you know, that we connect well, we put them together. And with this liaisonsuddenly it’s different. Like, written French and spoken French, it’s like a world of difference.
Annie Sargent: Yes. I know people who’ve been doing Duolingo for years, and when you speak to them, it’s deer-in-the-headlights.
Annie Sargent: Because Duolingo is essentially a game. It’s a game, I’m sorry. If you love it, if you love the game, do the game. But it’s a game. It’s not going to teach you French. Sorry, it’s not.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: I am yet to meet a single person who can have a decent conversation, like even a three-minute conversation, based on what they learned in Duolingo, even if they did years of it.
[00:37:41] Practical Tips for Learning French
Deborah Pham van Xua: But what I wanted to say about that, I noticed a lot of my students have been using Duolingo because of the game part, the gamification, because it’s fun. And because I think after 50, learning can become a little bit of a challenge, especially if you never learn a single foreign language in your life. Imagine it’s your first foreign language, so it’s like, wow, it’s like a feminine, masculine, what’s that? And I think it’s beautiful because it’s an opportunity to grow and to become curious and to learn a new world, to open your window towards a new world. But I think what is important, it’s also to accept that you will set the bar a little bit lower maybe, like, you won’t be like this perfectly fluent speaking like a French person.
Annie Sargent: Right.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And connect with your intention. If your intention is to connect with people, then that’s why I offer like those real-life French classes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So, we will go for practical French that you will need. Maybe you won’t be able to talk philosophy, but you will be able at least to connect with le boulanger, the baker. I think a lot of people come to France for the food. So, it turns a lot around food situation. And like, the slow living, all those little interactions. And that’s what people want. They just want to connect with those lovely French people.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And so, I kind of decided to create class, like, at least for the beginners. Class are very practical for your situation in France, all the little situation you will face.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Because, yes, I think learning the language and become like a C2 learner, if you are 50 plus and never, never learned another language before, it might be a challenge.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So, it’s like, okay…… let’s maybe set the bar a bit lower, and to the expectation that you need for your comfort in France, and we work around that.
Annie Sargent: Yes. I think if, as a 50-plus person, if you can get to B1, B2, you’re doing good already. B1, you can easily go to markets, buy things, ask basic questions. B2, you can start talking about your past and talking about your kids and talking about perhaps your profession, things like that.
Annie Sargent: C1 is… the only people I’ve ever known, because I do a bootcamp, and part of the bootcamp is language learning in the morning. But I don’t teach it, some other people, professionals do that.
Annie Sargent: But the people who’ve come to the bootcamp who get to C1, C2 classes, typically they were French teachers.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. And they did maybe, they lived in France when they were 21 year or something like that. Yeah, yeah. So there is this difference. Mm-hmm.
Annie Sargent: Right, so I think if you’ve never lived in France before, if you’re just coming because you would like to experience France on a longer term, then getting to B1, B2 is an excellent goal. If you get to that, you’re going to have so much fun with it. You can just talk to people. Yeah.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah, I think that’s it.
[00:40:41] The Importance of Context and Immersion
Deborah Pham van Xua: That’s… Clarify your goal, what you want to do, and also what I work a lot with LaJoie, instilling this curiosity for the language, and because if you have this curiosity, if you start to love the melody, if you start getting, like enthusiast about this new world, what that represents, the difference with English, then you naturally, you are going to learn every day, every hour, because you will have this curiosity and you will have your notebook with you. And you question people and you write down the words, and, like, everything will be an opportunity for you to learn all this, like, immersion.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And by the way, you can also create immersion even if you don’t live in France. Even in your own house in the UK or in the US, you can create a little French immersion. So I think once you have this curiosity, you’re good to go. Like, you have to develop that.
Annie Sargent: If you want to take this to the next level, you could carry a tiny, little bit digital recorder with you, like a little Sony recorder or your phone, you can record people with your phone, and just ask them, "Oh, would you mind saying that? Can I record that? Because I want to practice how you say that."
Deborah Pham van Xua: And people will be delighted, like, "Oh, you want to repeat just like me? That’s great." You know? And that’s really what it takes because I had people, I’ve had people in my life who ask me, they want to know about the grammar, "Why do you say it this way and not that way?" Okay. Even if I was able to explain why grammatically it’s this way instead of that way, which I cannot but I trust you can,it’s not going to help you in a conversation with people. That’s not really useful knowledge. What’s really important is that you’ve learned a new expression and you can use it when you need it. It comes to you. In Spanish recently,I was in a situation where, I was surprised how fast it came to me. Like, I had to say, "I forgot my keys," and it justolvidé, you know? It just came to my head and I wasn’t thinking, like, it just came. I didn’t have to think about it, and I was so pleased. Finally, something came to me naturally in Spanish. Wow. Félicitations.
Annie Sargent: Yes, because that’s hard. It has to get to the point where that’s what comes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: That’s why the contexts are important to learn. I think there are a lot of books like to learn dialogue in context, vocabulary in context. It’s like a little trigger. That’s why I often try to call my students with a French name, like, I don’t know,I have a Jeffrey, I call him Geoffrey, just to trigger him to be in France and to speak French.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And yeah, I think the context is really important, andas you said, I think a lot of people have a block maybe with grammar. They just hate the grammar and then that reminds them of school and they don’t want that.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So what I do is that we do the grammar, but it’s not the main point. We do, like, those typical dialogues in context, the kind of situation they need, and then we will instill a little bit of grammar because we need sometimes a little bit of understanding, but it won’t be the main topic. Like, it won’t be the main point. It would just, like, support the learning. Of course, you need to learn the basic if you’re a complete beginner. You need to.
Annie Sargent: You need some, you need some, but just don’t waste your time. Well, maybe for you it’s not a waste, but don’t spend too much time trying to understand every detail of the French grammar, because most… I mean, native speakers don’t understand the details of French grammar.
Deborah Pham van Xua: I’m a native speaker. I don’t know, I can’t explain French. My husband, he’s American, he learned French, he can totally explain French because he had to learn it. But for me, that’s not my goal. My goal is just to chat with people, and I think that’s much easier if you just… and if you make mistakes, so be it. You make mistakes. It doesn’t matter. Like, nobody’s going to laugh at you, or…Another thing is if you go visit places like the Basque Country, like these villages, I mean, they do get a lot of visitors, but probably French will come first before they switch to English. In cities like Paris everybody will speak English to you. Yeah. That’s true, exceptmaybe in higher season, they hire people who can speak the language, you know, they can speak English because there are so many people.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So maybe in August they will speak to you in English because they want to be fast. But the rest of the year, I don’t think like… I think it’s a really good area to practice French.
Deborah Pham van Xua: So yeah, come to Les Land or to the Basque Country if you want to practice. Not a lot of people. If you… Like, the member of my family, they can’t say a word in English or in Spanish, just as an example.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And little example I want to say about it, about finding some tricks, setting the bar maybe lower, align with your goals. And once you have your goals, like finding little tricks to facilitate the speaking.
Deborah Pham van Xua: For instance, I have a student that tells me that it doesn’t bother with ‘nous’. ‘Nous’ is like the formal ‘we’, and there is another ‘we’ that French people use a lot when speaking, like it’s ‘on’, and ‘on’ is a singular. It’s the same as ils or elle, she or he. And my student was like, "It’s just easier to conjugate. I don’t bother with the nous." And it’s like those little trick. Wait, why not? If it works for you…
Annie Sargent: Yeah, everybody will understand you if you say, "On, on n’y a pas pensé. Nous n’y avons pas pensé," You know? Well, it’s the same.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Mm-hmm.
Annie Sargent: Me, it’s the same.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Exactly. So…
Annie Sargent: Yeah. No, that’s great. That’s great.
Deborah Pham van Xua: There is little tricks. You can also trick your brain.
Annie Sargent: Right. Well, when I was younger, I briefly taught English to young kids, and when we started the class, we would put on our English coat, and we had an English thing that we would physically put on, and that meant it was English. But I mean, these were four-year-olds.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. But that’s really good.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, it… that it helps. You have a… Now, we do French for… you know, in this part of the house, we do French. And that’s what you do.
Deborah Pham van Xua: What I want to say to the people who listen to us and who feel a little bit that they freeze, before speaking, and they’ve been learning, they start to learn but somehow, like, they can’t really say anything, I want to say, like, to practice a lot at home with their mouth. I know it sound silly. You will be a bit silly in your house, but you know, just speak aloud like a parrot, repeat, and that’s like a gymnastic to your mouth, and you will get used to it, and that will really help for the moment where you will face the boulanger. That will help the person just to have this little mouth practice. And yeah, I think that’s little something that you can do, and that could really help you gain inconfidence for the moment to speak.
Annie Sargent: Yes, yes, yes. And I can say, you can do it. I’m at the point where in Spanish, if I have to pick up the phone and make a phone call in Spanish, I can. I don’t like doing it, it’s still uncomfortable, but I can. I did it, like, this week. Last week, I made several phone calls in Spanish because I had to. But it took me… I’ve been studying Spanish for two years, okay? So, it’s a long time before you get to be comfortable. I think maybe it’ll take a little longer, but… And don’t give up. I think whatever you charge people for your classes, it’s very important to have a human tutor. Really, that’s how you progress.Because if I didn’t have my Spanish teacher that I meet with once a week more or less, and he lets me speak, butcher his language, and he takes notes, and then we go back, and so he just types down what I said, and then we go back, and he fixes it.
Annie Sargent: He says, "Oh, here you might have said it this way instead," or, you know, "This would be a better way." And then I try to memorize some of the sentences that he’s taught me.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Exactly.
Annie Sargent: This is a sentence I tried to say, and I said it wrong or he fixed it, whatever. Sometimes it’s not that wrong, but I wasn’t… I was close, but no cigar. He just fixes it, and then I memorize it the way he told me to say it, and that’s how I make progress.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah. That’s also how I do, and I think that’s the benefit of learning online, is you can take in live all those notes. And like, every time now my students see me typing, just when I use my hand, they self-correct themself because they know that I will write something. And I like that when they… It’s better to self-correct than the teacher to tell, to cut you and say, "No, that’s not correct." So, I think that’s really good. And all those notes, I often spend a bit of time to order them and make them relevant, and make a little exercise to revise them, like, to revise all the new vocabulary and structure.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And I think that’s really good, the fact that the tutor give you the space to speak and you can speak freely, and not put so much emphasis towards mistake. What is important is fluency before the mistakes. But the mistakes are positive. Mistakes are an opportunity to improve.
Annie Sargent: Right, you’re going to make mistakes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And that’s why we do with the notes. Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Right. He fixes my mistakes. It’s perfect. He’s so patient. It’s wonderful.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Yeah.
[00:49:23] Balancing Language Learning with Daily Life
Annie Sargent: And so how many hours do you think people should dedicate? Obviously, if they have a goal to learn French enough, they’re moving in six months, they want enough French, then they should do what? I don’t see the point of doing more than half an hour or an hour per day. Unless you’re in a group situation. If you go to a in-person group, then perhaps two hours or three hours or whatever they decide, but…
Deborah Pham van Xua: I think the attention span is… the more you age, the attention span could become a little bit lower. And also, you have to consider that online, the attention span is a bit alsolower than in present, in face-to-face. I received a lot of students that’s been doing, like, a immersion with big schools and they told me that was too much for them. It was like, four hours of French a day. That almost disgusted them because it was too much, they couldn’t follow, they felt that because they were a bit older, they weren’t catching up the same as the younger people. And they came to me like this, like, "Oh my God, I feel like we didn’t retain anything."
Deborah Pham van Xua: So, I think it’s important not to go like, so hard, but for instance, if you take class with a tutor or with me, I like to space the class at least, so you have a little bit of time between the classes for you to digest, to use the notes, to do little exercises with them and just a little bit of time as well between the sessions to make the most of the session.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And during the session, yeah, you can be lively and speak. And also, as you said, the tutor is your commitment partner. So, with the tutor, you are going to set the goal and he’s going to be there for you. That’s also for the motivation, I think it’s also important and to have, like, this native person that will always be there, tell you all the cultural thing, and you know, sometimes I help my student for their trip, to create the itinerary, or…
Deborah Pham van Xua: It’s also nice, no? To have someone from the country to tell you what to do.
Deborah Pham van Xua: And I wanted to say, also, something that will be amazing and I want you to take it positively is that if you never spoke a foreign language and you move to France and you will experience like a life abroad, you will see personality changes.
Deborah Pham van Xua: You will see, like, if you are an outgoing American, that at first you won’t be able to express yourself fully at the petanque game. You won’t be able to be as witty as usual, and that might be a little shock. And I think it’s wonderful that you get to experience that even later in life if you haven’t done it. You know, us in Europe, we do Erasmus, we change country quite easily. But it’s amazing that life gives you this opportunity to explore different facets of your personality and get to grow and evolve. That’s what I observe with my students. I see the growth, and I think that’s why I work with you, because I think you are very brave to do that. And I think it’s really exciting.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Fantastic.
[00:52:11] Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Annie Sargent: We have to stop talking. We’ve been talking too long.
Annie Sargent: Deborah, you are wonderful. I hope some of the listeners consider hiring you as their tutor, and also go visit the Basque country and Les Landes. It’s beautiful.
Annie Sargent: And the Spanish side, I’m sure is not bad either. But on Join Us in France, we mostly talk about France, but there’s a lot of beauty to explore, and every time I speak with American friends or family and they say, "Oh, life is so, you know, unpredictable, so difficult, so…" Like, not really. It just depends where you are. There are places in the world where life is not so bad, thankfully.
Annie Sargent: So, thank you so much, Deborah, and best wishes to you, and your students.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Thank you. I say thank you in Basque, uh, mila esker, one thousand thank you, or another one is eskerrik asko.
Annie Sargent: Ooh, I’m not going to try and repeat that.
Deborah Pham van Xua: Eskerrik asko, eskerik, eskerik asko, very hard word, eskerrik asko, eskerrik asko, eskerrik asko.
Annie Sargent: See? You just repeat it. I have no idea how to spell it. But you just repeat and if you say that enough times, I would know eventually.
Annie Sargent: Thank you so much, Deborah.
Annie Sargent: Merci Beaucoup.
Annie Sargent: Au Revoir.
[00:53:36] Thank you, Patrons
Annie Sargent: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that, you can see them at patreon.com/joinus.
Annie Sargent: No new patrons this week, but plenty of appreciation. Thank you everyone who supports this podcast.
Annie Sargent: And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/elysart.
[00:54:05] 2026 Good Wishes[00:54:05] Cycling Boom in Paris
Annie Sargent: Let’s talk about the cycling boom in Paris. Paris is going through a real cycling boom right now. So much so that some people are asking whether the French capital is slowly turning into a kind of Amsterdam-sur-Seine or something.
Annie Sargent: According to a recent report, one Parisian out of two identifies as a cyclist, and every morning the bike lanes around Rue de Rivoli and Sébastopol are so saturated that you get actual bicycle traffic jams. 10% of Parisians already commute by bike.
Annie Sargent: Cycling in Paris isn’t just about leisure rides at this point, the biggest growth comes from the professionals, delivery riders using cargo bikes.
Annie Sargent: These big boxy bikes now handle 15% of all parcel deliveries in Paris. That’s the highest rate in Europe.
Annie Sargent: The busiest is called Cyclo Logistique and 39 companies operate in the region.
Annie Sargent: One example is Les Cargonotes, a cooperative that started nine years ago and now employs about 40 people. These riders can carry up to 80 kilos of packages per trip, zigzagging between the endless stream of other cyclists.
Annie Sargent: Because of that, Paris now counts twice as many bike trips as car trips, which is remarkable for a city that until recently was known for its traffic jams and honking horns.
Annie Sargent: Of course, not everything is perfect. Some riders say coexistence between bikes, cars, and pedestrians is still bumpy, and anyone who’s watched a Parisian bike lane at rush hour will not be shocked by that.
Annie Sargent: But the overall feeling from people interviewed is that the city has made enormous progress in a few years, and that riding in Paris today is much more comfortable and predictable than before.
Annie Sargent: The TV program Paris Go looked at all of this in a special episode with guests, including the Dutch ambassador and the spokesperson for the advocacy group Paris en Selle. When even the Dutch start complimenting Paris on cycling infrastructure, you know something unusual is happening.
Annie Sargent: Whether Paris is truly becoming the new Amsterdam is still open to debate, but one thing is clear, the bike has completely changed the daily life in the capital from commuting, to deliveries, to family rides, there’s no going back.
Annie Sargent: In November, when I got out of the Louvre Rivoli metro station, I saw something entirely new to me. As you probably know, the Louvre is a very long building sandwiched between the Seine River and Rue de Rivoli. It’s 500 meters long, as a matter of fact, which is a third of a mile.
Annie Sargent: Just so you can picture it, let me say that the Louvre Rivoli Metro Station is at the opposite end to where the pyramid is, okay? When I got off at the metro station, I noticed a lot of police at that busy intersection. There are often police in Paris, I wasn’t surprised by that.
Annie Sargent: What was different is that one of the officers had a speed gun in his hand and was stopping cyclists who were driving dangerously fast. We don’t have specific speed limits for bikes in France in general, after all, I mean those guys at the Tour de France ride are very, very, very fast, but some electric bikes are more like mopeds or motorcycles, and they can go very, very fast.
Annie Sargent: The ones that can go over 45 kilometers per hour are not allowed in France, as a matter of fact. But of course, people import bikes where you can easily disable the speed limiter. Police were making arm gestures to stop the guys who were going too fast, and if they didn’t slow down would just grab them and yank them off their bikes and write them a ticket.
Annie Sargent: I stood there at a distance and watched for a while. I didn’t stay long enough to see if they were impounding any of these vehicles, but it was impressive how many people they stopped in just a few minutes.
Annie Sargent: All this to say that yes, they are trying to put some order in the madness, but be very, very careful when crossing streets in Paris.
Annie Sargent: Look both ways because some of those bikers are out of control and they get away with a lot, even if the police shows up once in a while.
Annie Sargent: My thanks to podcast editors Anne and Christian Cotovan, who produced the transcripts and the audio.
Annie Sargent:
[00:58:42] Next Week on the Podcast
Annie Sargent: Next week on the podcast, an episode with Elyse about a vacation in Southern Brittany and the beautiful area around Vannes and Belle-Ile.
Annie Sargent: As we turn the page on the year that has just passed, without pretending it was simple or even particularly coherent, I wish you a New Year that is neither perfect nor entirely predictable, but solid, generous, and filled with those small moments that make everything else bearable.
Annie Sargent: May 2026 bring you good health, good homemade food, conversations that go somewhere, and at least a few plans that actually work out.
Annie Sargent: My goal for 2026? Get somewhat comfortable with video podcasting and vlogging. Wish me luck. My efforts so far have not paid off very much.
Annie Sargent: Thank you for listening and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together.
Annie Sargent: Au revoir.
[00:59:44] Copyright
Annie Sargent: The join us in France Travel Podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and Copyright 2026 by Addicted to France. It is released under a Creative Comments, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.
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Episode PageCategories: Basque Country, French Culture, French Customs & Lifestyle, Learn French