On vacation

I’ve always heard about how people in European countries will take the month of August off.  I’ve been in France or Italy on vacation during August in the past and noticed that things were closed here and there, but it was always just a restaurant or a bakery.  Now when I see things are closed it is my restaurant and my bakery, so it feels very different.  We were out of town at the end of July and when I went to faire mes courses (run errands) for the first time after we returned, it seemed like the whole world had closed.  My favorite fish shop, poultry shop, butcher, bakery, cheese shop, coffee shop, and wine shop are all closed until the end of the month.  I tried using the closures as an opportunity to try out new places in the neighborhood, but ended up spending a frustrating day or two visiting 4 different bakeries to find one that was open or stopping by 3 different fish shops only to end up settling for frozen fish from the grocery store because they were all closed.

I finally threw up my hands and gave up when I went to make a reservation for dinner at a place by our house.  This may have been poor planning, but we had invited some friends over for an apero (pre-dinner drink) of champagne and gougères with the intention of introducing them to our favorite neighborhood restaurant.  When I called to make a reservation the restaurant was closed.  After consulting a list of restaurant closures, I called our second favorite place within walking distance.  Also closed.  And the third favorite?  Totally booked up (I guess because of all of the closures).  Finally, I hit the jackpot with the fourth place that I tried calling for a reservation.  I guess the only silver lining is that now my French is good enough that calling up so many different restaurants wasn’t a problem.