Rosebud Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Despite this being our second August here, we still haven't learned much about the French and their holiday time.We wanted to go out for Sunday lunch yesterday, which shouldn't be so difficult in Toulouse, but oh boy were we mistaken. We tried a restaurant which was recommended by a friend....it was shut.So we moved on to a well known beer garden just outside town for a spot of light lunch......shut [:(]OK, let's try our busy town centre favourite pizzaria.........shut for two weeks [:(][:(]OK, we're getting desperate now, we need to feed the troops, how about eh pizza hut??.......naaaaaaaaa, shut [:(]Kids are getting a bit scratchy by this time, so we take the only other option we can think of.....MacD's [+o(]The whole of Touolouse was there, it must have been the only place to get a meal in town!!!!What do the tourists who flock here do for munchies during the first two weeks of August? Is it just catering establishments or does the whole country shut down in August?Hungry Rosie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmto Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Yes, the whole country, more or less. And a Sunday in August is even more impressive to behold than during the rest of the year - last Sunday in Marseille it was like being in a ghost town, a city of 800,000 inhabitants reduced to a sleepy village and empty streets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Well we have lived here for nearly a year and tried to go for a meal without booking on Saturday night of all nights. Suffice to say I will never go out on a Saturday again in August. Everything was pre-booked. Felt like Mary and Joseph we were turned from so many places, poor kids getting more and more fed up. So if you want to open a restaurant in Brittany get yourself over here because there are literally not enough restaurants to cover the holidaymakers here. You could make a mint.I think the problem is also that the French make a night of a meal whereas we are used to eating in say less than two hours and they can fit someone else after us. When we went to three restaurants there was nobody in hardly but they just do the one sitting. We did eventually find somewhere but by then was so fed up it was spoiled.Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Thinking about it, aside from the local bakers (who vacation inrotation so that the flow of bread is not interupted), pretty mucheverything is open throughout. The take the touristpound/euro/buck/dinar/rouble very seriously, I think, it being thesingle biggest earner in the Vendée. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumGirl Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 In our area, all restaurants and shops are open even longer hours than usual to accomodate the tourist trade. No one would want to take the risk of losing out on that. Even some of the local artisans have stopped taking their vacations in August, because the holiday homeowners need them to come while they're here.Maybe it's a city thing, since most tourists would probably be going to rural locations?PG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosebud Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 Possibly PG, although Toulouse is a tourist destination in it's own right. Having said that though, I think all the locals have migrated coastwards for the month. The car park outside our place is half empty most days. Normally the place is packed! In that respect it's quite nice just now!Also, my doctor just informed me not to get sick for the next four weeks!!! [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Our village restaurant-bar is closed from 12th to 29th August this year - a week longer than last year. We think it's because they can afford it because of the extra evening trade they get since we opened last July, as it previously catered almost exclusively for lunchtime trade and functions. Maybe they'll surprise us and spend the extra week decorating the bar and dining room! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 After 3 and a half years of living here and 4 years before that of spending time at the house during August/September we have long since learnt that August is holidaytime for EVERYONE. We never used to be able to understand why the local restaurant closed for 3 weeks in August - at the time we thought they were mad, but now realise that MOST of their business is done Monday-Friday lunchtimes with the local workforce and Saturday evenings and Sunday lunchtimes for family functions/communions/weddings, so the tourist trade is just added bunce but their attitude is, it's holiday time so we're having a holiday. I still haven't decided whether they're daft or extremely sensible!We do have a newly opened restaurant not too far from us who obviously is going for the tourist market. They told me they are open 7 days (and evenings) during July and August but will be closed the standard Sunday evening an all day Monday the rest of the year. But places like that are very few and far between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Petomane Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 I like France and I speak quite good French, so this is not another case of Whinging Brit complaining because France isn't Britain, but the truth is that the French have a competely different idea of service. The attitude of most traders is not that you're doing them a favour by giving them your custom, but that they are doing you a favour by serving you. This indifference occasionally borders on rudeness, and it extends from small shopkeepers to France Telecom and SNCF. There are, happily, lots of exceptions, and once they get to know you their attitude is often different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumGirl Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 I've seriously never had this experience, Petomane. I've always had people go out of their way to be helpful, even if there wasn't anything in it for them.PG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Me neither. I find that the exceptions outnumber Le Petomane's rule! [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Le Pet - you must tell us - do you share the original Le Petomane's remarkable musical gift? [:D][img]http://www.ooze.com/ooze13/images/petomane/petomane.jpg[/img]Le Petomane - the Musical MarvelClick the link for details of this gifted music hall artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Petomane Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 This is something between myself and the memsahib. Performances twice nightly, and sometimes more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Great Cassis ! He did say he speaks French fairly well.But Le Petomane, can you beat Les Petodogs ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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