Willy’s post on sweet tea and my post on Jack Daniel’s (along with all the other Gadling posts on beverages) have made me thirsty. I started searching out beverage info and found this handy guide on drinking in France. Browse this write up on Travelotica.com and you’ll know what to drink, when to drink it and how to imbibe for cheap. These are all tips handy for keeping instep with the French. Here are a few of them.
Before eating, drink an aperitif to stimulate your appetite. After eating, savor a digestif to feel satisfied-coffee counts. During a meal, sip on wine (vin) to enhance your dining experience. Actually, in France you can drink wine the live-long day whether you’re eating or not. House wine is “vin de table”or “vin ordinaire” and is the cheapest offering. The fancier version of table wine is called “cuvee” but it will cost you more.
If you drink at the bar, the price is cheaper for drinks than if you drink at a table. Drinking on the patio costs the most. A few years back I was in Paris killing time and spent an hour or so drinking a cup of coffee. That’s perfectly acceptable. That’s good to know. I was on the patio, though. I guess if I would have known the bar is cheaper I could have saved some money.