Throughout our time in Bayeux, I began to take note of the interesting behavior among the shop and restaurant owners. There were moments when a group of us attempted to grab dinner but random hourly closing made this quite difficult. One crepe place closed at 4pm while a pizza parlor didn’t open till 8pm. As the quest for French dining grew futile, we regularly relied on the local grocery store for DIY sandwiches and tasty pesto mozzarella chips. The chips became a prominent staple of our diet that by the end of our stay one lonely bag remained on the store’s shelf. Just through this one French town, I began to understand particular aspects of French culture. People seemed to move at their own pace. On our last evening in Paris, we grabbed dinner at Aux Artistes, which featured homestyle French dishes. The meal lasted over three hours but time never seemed to be an issue.
The infamous pesto mozzarella chips
The slow-paced, personally oriented culture of France made American civilization seem like a madhouse. Normally people strived to find aspects of their home culture throughout the places they travel, but I had found myself falling in love with parts that are absent from my own. A three hour dinner in the United States signifies an inadequately executed order or an understaffed restaurant. The quick customer turnover rate stems from the monetary motivations of American restaurants. American waiters attempt to accrue significant tips by serving substantially more tables when compared to their European counterparts. Our three hour dinner in Paris functioned as a pleasant hiatus from the rushed environment present in a majority of American restaurants.
Aux Artistes