The only thing that was very weird to me is that at 9:30 we were practically pushed out of the restaurant, even though we kept ordering expensive drinks. This is one of the Midwestern habits that people from Europe find very hard to adapt themselves to. You are supposed to have dinner at surprisingly early hours, and just when the fun is supposed to begin, you are asked to clear out. My friends from Spain who normally dine at 11 pm always suffer greatly because of this strange habit.
One of the hardships of existence in small American towns is that they practically die out at sundown. This is why life feels so tedious and gloomy in small-town America.
3 comments:
The US is like many small countries, and can be very different.
Interesting-I'll remember that when I visit the midwest. :)
I agree so much with the last line, especially after my recent visit to Europe!
I suggest that there are three things that make restaurant dinning in the U.S. and Western Europe different: 1) the proportion of the servings in that European dinner will consist of three or four small courses rather than a single 128oz steak; 2) accompanying dinner drinks in Europe normally are wine or seltzer water with coffee afterwards (often in a café not the restaurant) while in the U.S. coffee or tap water is often the accompanying drink for dinner; 3) and yes Europeans dine much later than do Americans (in Rome early dinner starts around 2100 (9PM)). As an American living in Europe (Flemish Belgium) I appreciated the style of living and dinning of Western Europe. I have never felt more at home or was treated so civilly as in Belgium or felt safer than in Western Europe.
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