Nantes – “Let’s All Get Drunk” Reopening Stage 2

When I woke up last Wednesday—admittedly late because I work until the wee hours with my Canadian clients— I wondered if I had landed on another planet.

It was unusually noisy outside.

I stepped on the balcony. Crowded streets! Jam-packed patios with people drinking, smoking and eating! Tons of people carrying shopping bags!

Back to the future moment. I checked the calendar—nope, still 2021.

So it was true. It did happen—reopening stage 2, green light for museums, movie theatres, cultural venues, non-essential businesses and outdoor dining, plus curfew at 9 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. and a bunch of other restrictions lifted, can’t be bothered to remember and list them all.

“Les terrasses” (i.e. “restaurant and bar patio expansion” in Canadian) have been the main topic of discussion for weeks now. How much outdoor space can restaurants and bars use? Was booking your spot for reopening day necessary? Will streets be closed to traffic?

Last Monday, when it became clear that the government was going forward with stage 2 of reopening, the city turned into a giant DIY project with bar and restaurant owners building their patio and cleaning up tables and chairs. Judging by the pile of stacked lumber and arguments between waiters/builders overheard through the week, I guess building a patio is harder than it seems—you would have thought they were assembling an IKEA bed.

I went out. Suddenly, there were more people than police in the streets. Everybody was laughing—and apparently “working from home” as per government recommendations because it was 2 p.m. on a Wednesday and surely, there were meeting to attend and task to tackle…

… or maybe doing your civic duty was more important. News media were reporting on bars reopening as if it was the most important event in history since the 1969 moon landing.

“So, Pierre, are you happy to be ordering and enjoying your first beer in a bar?”

“Not my first but my eighth [insert random slurred speech]”

“How about you, Étienne? Happy to enjoy a drink outside again?”

“Came here at 8 a.m. with twenty of my friends, we’re so wasted!”

Honestly, if you wanted to invade France, steal top secret documents or grab La Joconde, Wednesday, May 19 was D-Day—no one would have noticed or cared.

And so everybody got drunk and celebrated “normal life” before going home just in time for the 9 p.m. curfew.

Just kidding. But I’m sure some people did make it home before 9 a.m. Hey, at least we’re classy in Nantes, in Rennes (one of France’s drinking capitals) it ended up with tear gas and riot police.