Two Itty Bitty Inconveniences

Two things I find slightly inconvenient about the French: 

1) They take a TWO HOUR lunch break from 12-2pm, a big gap in the middle of day when everything shuts down: little bakeries, big bakeries, museums, Apple stores... If the hours say it's open from 9-6, you should assume they mean from 9-12 and 2-6, just to be safe.  There's a large public library in Toulouse that closes down in the middle day like this.  If you're in the middle of a project at lunchtime, they kick you out to do who-knows-what until they re-open.  You'd think they'd be able to give the employees lunch breaks in shifts so that they wouldn't have to close.. but no.

2)  Restaurants don't serve dinner until 7:30pm.  This goes for most of your middle to upscale restaurants, even bistros in bars.  I discovered this when, after a tiring day of sight-seeing, I was ready to eat at 6:30-- a totally reasonable dinnertime, one would think... but my options were to wait it out until 7:30 or to buy something on-the-go from a boulangerie, snack bar, or sandwich shop.  Keep this in mind when traveling in France. :)