hdm

I've just been browsing the Spain posts and lots of them ask about siesta hours. We experienced this in Italy too (and quite liked that slowdown in mid-afternoon with the later evenings).

It occurs to me to ask if there's anything like this in France. I would expect that Paris, like Rome, is open all day, but what about in the countryside. When do shops/museums/cafes/restaurants etc. open and close? What are usual meal times? Do people dine early? Late? (No children involved here.) Any info would be appreciated.

Merci.

PalenQ

many smaller stores are closed Monday mornings. I'd say it's about like Italy but with not so drastic a midday pause - two hours at most in France for worker lunches, more and more less.

Pvoyageuse

"It occurs to me to ask if there's anything like this in France. I would expect that Paris, like Rome, is open all day, but what about in the countryside. When do shops/museums/cafes/restaurants etc. open and close? What are usual meal times? Do people dine early? Late? (No children involved here.) Any info would be appreciated".

Shops open at 9 or 9.30 am, close at 12, open from 2 to 7 in the afternoon.
They close on Monday morning or the whole day.
Department stores remain open during lunch hour.
Shopping malls open from 10 am to 10pm non stop except Sat when they close at 8 pm. Offices are open from 9 to 12 and from 2 pm to 5 or 5.30 pm.
Most museums open at 9.
No difference with Paris re meal times.

cocofromdijon

Don't worry hdm we don't have dinner as late as the Spanishs who dine around midnight. The average time to go to the restaurant is from 8pm to 10pm, but you can start at 7pm with no problem.

As for the shops, I agree with my two fellow members above.

PalenQ

Royale (sp/) in her campaign platform has called for letting smaller shops in France remain open on Sundays whereas current law, and Coco can correct me if wrong, does not allow stores to open on Sunday with few exceptions - Christmas time and certain zones of tourism like on the Champs-Elysees.
Arab-owned convenience stores are often open on Sunday and i believe the law may allow this based on their religion. Gas stations too can sell food, etc. on Sundays.
All tourist type things like museums are of course open on Sunday but often close either on Monday or Tuesdays.

hdm

Thanks everyone and hi coco!
Well, those hours work just fine for us. When we're on holiday we tend to want to laze around in the mornings and go later in the evenings.

I'd better warn my friend who's going to Spain though -- I think her boyfriend might be surprised by those late dinners!

I can't wait to meet you in person, coco. I feel we're already friends!

cocofromdijon

A bit more than 3 months to go and you'll be in France! \/

Pvoyageuse

Author: PalenQ
Date: 02/23/2007, 04:14 pm
Royale (sp/) in her campaign platform has called for letting smaller shops in France remain open on Sundays whereas current law, and Coco can correct me if wrong, does not allow stores to open on Sunday with few exceptions - Christmas time and certain zones of tourism like on the Champs-Elysees.
Arab-owned convenience stores are often open on Sunday and i believe the law may allow this based on their religion.

No law in France allows or forbids anything because of religion.

Gas stations too can sell food, etc. on Sundays.
All tourist type things like museums are of course open on Sunday but often close either on Monday or Tuesdays.

Pvoyageuse

Sorry, I hit the button too quickly.

Arab convenience stores, as you write, are usually open on Sunday morning just as some other food stores such "épiceries", boulangeries, boucheries, open air markets, etc... are also open. It has absolutely nothing to do with religion.
The only obligation is that the shop must close at least one day in the week if there are employees. If you are the owner and work on your own, you may work 7/7 and 24 hours a day if you like.

kenderina

I don't dine around midnight !!! Most of Spaniards don't ... Yes, we don't have dinner as early as Americans, but I usually have dinner at 9 -9'30 PM.
People like my friend Emilio do have dinner very late (around 11 PM) but it's because they finish work at 10 PM so when they arrive home is too late
But I also know people that has dinner around 8 ..because they began working at 6 AM , so they have to wake up soon.
Don't need to worry too much , hahaha.

flybob

WELL to answer the question "What's time like in France?" it passes as antwhere else

Jolie

Ah, but does it really? I thought Minkowski and Einstein showed that time is only relative. Where does time go when it leaves 3-dimensional space anyway?

(This is why I nearly lost my sanity in physics class)

kerouac

Parisians and most big city dwellers lost the 2-hour lunch many years ago. In my company, the ground floor and 1st floor employees have 45 minutes and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor employees have 35 minutes. How about that for confusing? But we upper floor people finish at 4 p.m. on Friday and the other floors finish at 5 p.m.

fnarf999

France has gone to metric time, so the first thing you do when you get there is go into the nearest shop and ask for a decimalized watch, with hundred-minute New Hours made up of a hundred New Seconds. Don't worry, the shopkeeper will know exactly what you mean.

superheterodyne

<i>France has gone to metric time, so the first thing you do when you get there is go into the nearest shop and ask for a decimalized watch, with hundred-minute New Hours made up of a hundred New Seconds. Don't worry, the shopkeeper will know exactly what you mean. </i>

60-base time was brought back on January 1, 1806

fnarf999

Time moves very, very slowly where I am. I hadn't heard the news.

superheterodyne

<i>Time moves very, very slowly where I am. I hadn't heard the news.</i>

Well then, no big fuss, today is Quintidi, the 5th of Vent&ocirc;se, 215

rkkwan

I disagree. Time moves fast there. Before I notice, my French vacation is over.

hdm

'France has gone to metric time'

This doesn't scare me. I'm Canadian. We buy our eggs by the metric dozen.

cocofromdijon

&gt;I don't dine around midnight !!! Most of Spaniards don't ...&lt;
Kenderina, I remember that when on holiday in Andalucia we used to start dinner around 10pm and we were the first ones! It was only after we had dessert that people were starting their meal.
Maybe because it was in June and the days were longer but we felt we were very early sleepers. In French we say &quot;se coucher avec les poules&quot; ~gt;(sleep when the hens go to sleep?)