No strong feelings one way or another. Rarely go into one at home, but they don't bother me just by being there.

So, after we all weigh in, what happens next?

We sink the boat! McDonald's is disgusting food: poor quality, poorly prepared. If I were minister of food, or culture, or health, of France, I would have them banned!

Blight.

Having said that, we did resort to a McDonalds in Malaysia, mainly for the airconditioning. Certainly not for the food. I'm with PalQ on this one - close them down and string them up for their wilful and reckless disregard for the nation's health.

Has anyone counted up the 'blight' votes on this thread?

Oh, nearly forgot. In addition to wilful and reckless disregard for the nation's health, add 'giving offense to good taste'. Even if I felt like a hamburger (it has been known!) McDonald's is the last place I'd go looking for one.

By the way - Free loos can be found in any cafe or bar you care to wander into in any big Euro city - including Paris, london, wherever.

No one has mentioned that they also have maps. Many times we have walked into McDs when we are lost in a Cityi.

Yes - cheap coffee, WC and maps. I remember eating in two McD's in Italy. One in Pompeii when we had ten minutes flat before we had to meet our guide for a full afternoon of walking and another time in Rome just outside the Vatican museum where all the local places were major tourist traps that would charge 15E (1999) for a mini, dried out prosciutto sandwich and a soft drink.

The one in Ronda, Spain must have the most magnificent view of them all We actually CHOSE to have a coffee there since they had (almost) the same view as the Parador and the cost was at least a third.

I do not sponsor McD's at home except in situations which are similar to the ones described above. So I guess my policy is the same overseas.

Watch that moviemetary "Super Size Me", scary stuff...

Neither. Just another part of the landscape.
I don't see anything wrong with eating at one once in a while. Why is eating at McD's so terrible, yet eating at Quick (a Belgian fast food chain also found in France) isn't condemned? Quick is actually worse the McD's IMHO. And the McD menu in France is no worse than the menu at, say, NordSee in Germany. I don't see any anti-Quick or Nordsee tirades here--why not? It's the same thing.
While living in Germany for six months, we ate at the McDonald's in the shopping mall twice. Big deal. It didn't ruin our health. I also ate one quick lunch at the McD's in Vienna during a 10-day trip. During our 5 years in Brussels, we ate at McD's maybe once every 4 months. It didn't stop us from enjoying European cuisine or affect our health.

I'm really confused. Europeans are supposed to have such refined tastes and superior knack for eating only healthy food of the highest quality.

Yet, these places are often packed. Is another Dark Age about to descend upon us?

I am leaning towards Blight. I just find Mc Food gross and not great for kids.....I am not thrilled to see them every few blocks in some countries. Saying that it would be nicer with chairs outside and internet access (Not even close to that in Dublin).

They now have the Mc Cafe that is a section separate that serves coffee and cakes/scones that is pretty good.

I am a veggie who nearly starved to death a few years ago in China after refusing the mystery meat we were being served and saw the local butcher full of flies and no windows in the heat. I am still surprised I managed on Cabbage soup and rice and whatever I could find in Shanghai back then. Once we hit Beijing we did go to McDonalds as I had lost about a stone (14lbs) and needed a feed. It was great and much better tasting the the shriveled up US Burgers (Yes I actuially ate a burger I was so hungry!).

Other than that I never seek them out as I also like to try the places that each country has. I eat chips once a year from Supermacs (Irish Chain) and in Spain went to this fast food sandwich place and it was actually quite nice.

Public toilets are around but with kids you have to make do with the closest. I agree about some of the cafe toilets...some are scary in the touristy areas, I had a bad experience in Monmartre.

Overall I think its too many Md's, KFC's and BK's for my liking ehrn most countries have nice food just as quick

>And MacDonalds, as many Europeans inevitably pronounce it,

Inevitably and correctly. Mc is just an abbreviation of Mac. In parts of Ireland, the two used to be interchangeable in common spelling. Sometimes the Mc or Mac is an unaccented syllable and might sound like "mick" or "meck" or "muck", but it is properly Mac. Does anybody remember the old McDonalds jingle? "...You deserve a break today at MACK Donalds."

When we lived in Germany in 1970 while in the Army we had no McDonalds and no other fast food places. We also had no American TV. Those two years were fantastic. We learned to live without the dope of watching TV and we did not miss the fast food joints at all. Eveywhere we traveled was an adventure.

Now....we see a McDonalds on every corner and we use them occasionally...but it is not the same and never will be. Europe is not the adventure it once was....just another place to visit now.

McDs burgers poor quality and disgusting? Man, have you got it wrong. McDs burgers have been researched, studied, experimented with, and refined to have exceptional appeal to human senses of touch, taste, and smell. They are engineered to taste good, and they do to most people.

Of course, it's the snobby thing for someone to say McDs food doesn't taste good to them--and folks who do say that put themselves in one of three positions: 1. They've never actually tasted McD's food. 2. They are just saying it to impress people. 3. Their sense of taste/smell is abnormal.

I don't eat it because of health issues--well, once in a while.

The McDonalds in Rothenburg ob der Tauber is located in the center of the town, in a medieval building, where the exterior remains totally medieval. The usual Golden Arches sign has been reduced to a small heraldic sign where the golden arches are incorporated into a medieval shield. Very discreet, almost unnoticeable.

That being said, I agree with those who tout their usually clean toilets. And when in a rush, I have upon occasion eaten in Mickey D's in London, Paris and Hong Kong. After all, it is "Fast" Food.

generally don't like mcdonalds. but the mcdonalds in letterkenny, county donegal, ireland, should be avoided at all costs! they get the order wrong 9 times out of 10, the food is even more dire than foodies tell us the usual mcdonalds food is AND two years ago i gave in and joined my sons in getting a burger from there only to be stung by a wasp that was encased under the burger and above the bun! it was very painful and has put me off ever ever eating a mcdonalds again. of course what didn't help is that to this day (and i still have the moulded, disintigrated burger in it's box in a shed) no-one in the letterkenny branch has responded to our two telephone calls to them to inform them of this happening. nor, i have to add, has anyone from the main mcdonald's website email address. and as for their health eating ... wasps probably have at least 100 calories!

Why you'd eat in a MacDonalds is beyond me, they are only good for a bathroom and cup of coffee.

This is for Rufus:

I personally cannot stand the taste of any MacDonald's food. Call me anti-American, call me whatever you want to call me, but I just gag on anything MacDonald's produces. Maybe it's because I'm a cook and a culinary tour guide and a maven of fresh Mediterranean and Southwest France cooking. I dunno. But let me say that LONG before I developed a love for France and Italy and their respective cuisines, I eschewed food from MacDonalds.
Have I been in a MacDonalds in Europe? Yes. Once, our entire family stopped for a meal at the McDos in Périgueux at the Zone Artisanale. It was so gross we pretty much all tossed our meals and drank the drinks and called it a day.

I only have a somewhat found memory, more of a rescue memory of a Macdonalds in Southern England. I had just gotten off the QE2, rented car and drove perhaps about an hour when remnants of caviar hell still ravaged my intestines! The hazards of traveling Queens Grill I suppose, little niceties left in your cabin you openly consume. It was a night of meeting porcelian, almost need for ships doctor...things slacked off enough to disembark that morning, get rental car and well you know the rest. LOL

Traveler 863, yes I concede. McDonald's does have it advantages at time : How terrible for you - not fun!

Sorry to go off topic..

StCirq.... if you happen to come back to this thread, I was wondering if you could email me the "letter" you posted a few weeks ago if you still have it My email is [email protected]. Thanks if you happen to see this

Worse than McDonald's for me was the unbelievably huge number of Starbucks everywhere you turn in London. Maybe it was just the fact that when I lived there 10 years ago, they didn't exist, and now having recently returned for the first time, they had popped up, it seemed like, everywhere you go. Never bothered me in SF or NY, but it just felt completely alien in London. God (or at least Chirac and Delanoe) help us all if it ever gets near that point in Paris....

-Kevin

Well Kevin, besides not eating fast food I hate Starbucks coffee. Yuck!
I guess I am sure in the minority however. Well I don't guess, it is obvious that I am.