When you're in London with a wife and two children and your bank account is running low, McDonald's is an enjoyable, inexpensive substitute for a $200 meal for four - especially when the children just don't appreciate those $50 per person and up meals.

Yep I ate at Maccas too in Rome of all places but it was a cheap meal with a FANTASTIC view - directly across from the Pantheon. I've got this amusing photo of me eating my burger at the very unclassy McD tables which is juxtaposed against the back drop of this amazing building of such historical importance...now that I think baout it its kind of sad really to have bland, multinational fast food chain so close to it!!

O.K.Very hungry, very tired, could not read the Russian alphabet but knew what golden arches meant. McD's in St. Petersberg was a life saver, plus, we joined in the festivities of a Birthday Party for a 5 year old Russian girl..It was great..

Great news....didn't read all these posts ti see if anyone else mentioned it, but the McD's in Paris serves beer! Had ff's and a beer to tide us over till time for a lovely french dinner! Hard day at the flea maket...

In between connecting trains at Lausanne, we nipped to the MacDonald's just across the road from the station for a quick lunch and used the toilet. I didn't have any Swiss currency small enough to use at the 'pay' toilets at the station and couldn't wait to use the one on the next train (that time of the month). <BR> <BR>Also in Rome I was desperate to use a toilet, but didn't want to have to sit down and buy a drink, so I popped into the MacDonald's at Piazza della Rotunda. <BR> <BR>Personally, I would only drink their coffee out of desperation, or when I am breakfasting there with my sister and her young kids. However, some newer MacDonald's in Australia now have "McCafe", which serves reasonably good coffee, muffins and cookies.

Strange how so few people on this forum are willing to admit eating a McD hamburger. Haven't they sold over 1 billion of them? How does the saying go "1 billion hamburger eaters can't be wrong." Or was that 1 million frenchmen? <BR>We ate at McD's near the Spanish Steps in Rome. Very convienient late at night and to see the 2d largest McD's in the world. They served an excellent and different milkshake. They also had cafe latte. One of the special combos was choice of several different Italian salads from a salad bar, french fries and a bottle of water-- If this combination makes any sense to anyone. The place, however, was crowded with young Italians who only wanted to eat the hamburgers. <BR>Ursula, Art et al. When I was in Munich, I only ate the Bratwurst served on a plate with red cabbage and potatoes-- bowl of bread seperate. I ate it with a fork and knife. I had some every day I was there, I liked it so much. Wish we could get real Bratwurst here in California instead of the junk they call Bratwurst. And, Ursula you really should go to Munich one of these days and check it out. <BR> <BR>Gerry

I ate at McDonald's in Augsburg. At the end of a very long day in the car with 3 small children - none of us were in the mood to dress up for a restaurant or schlep to the market. A burger and fries were just what the mommies ordered and the cherry on the cake of my day was the very tall, very cold beer I got with my meal yippee!!!

Gerry: Munich is on my list, but I won't have the pleasure of being part of Art's GTG on September 27, regretful but true. And just BTW - I am not that fond of Bratwurst anyway - too caloric and nobody really knows what's in them. But that is true as well with hamburgers. I stay away from and definitely prefer cheeses, yummy. ;-)

Has anyone been to a "Quick" fast food outlet? I too have eaten at McDonald's in various countries (students' perogative!), but would heartily recommend going to a Quick fast food outlet in France and Belgium - much nicer than McDonald's, bigger portions and they have cooler giveaways!

Ursula: <BR> <BR>Having once worked in a meat plant, I can tell you what goes into hamburger. Beef and beef fat. That's all. Mc Donalds was one of our customers. They got 80% lean beef with 20% fat content. Almost all hamburger beef was "bull" meat from either Australia or Argentina.-- Not our local more expensive meat. Well, I guess that's your lesson for the day. <BR>I don't know about cheese. Except it's got lots of fat and lots of calories. But, I do love it too. Again, we can't get any good stuff here. The imported cheese is weeks old by the time it gets here and ridiculously priced. <BR>I won't be back to Germany for a while either. <BR>Enjoy some of that cheese for me. <BR> <BR>Gerry <BR> <BR>

Gerry: Thanks for your lesson and I shall have some cheese for you as well, no problem. I know it's caloric too, but people here tend to eat less meat nowadays over here. Also, good meat is very expensive in Switzerland, esp. beef from the US and Australia. I know MacDo emphasized that their beef is safe, now that we had all these discussions about mad cow disease, etc. The MacDos here are successful with young people or families with children. But most people I know do not go there. We even had a Kentucky Fried Chicken branch which closed down because of bad business. It's just not our thing. Ok, back to work. have a good day. ;-)

While I was willing to try tete de veau in France, my French buddy had a really hard time trying to choke down even a bite of a hamburger when visiting here. (For old-timers, you may recall the episode of Happy Days where Fonzi battles his fear of liver?). Anyway, while I would not seek out a McDonald's in Europe because there are too many other good things to eat, I can't see getting too wrapped up in the idea that it is some kind of abomination to do that, for those who choose to. I can think of a few times where Mickey D's would have been a great alternative to things I ended up eating, beginning with many inflight meals...

Jim: How courageous to try tête de veau. That's definitely not everybody's cup of tea! ;-)

A cheesburger from a different point of view: <BR> <BR>Several years ago, my wife and I visited Paris. In spite of all the advice to stay awake on arrival, walk, be in the sunlight in order to get acclimated to the new time, she refused to do that. First thing in order of importance for her was sleep, which as you all probably know meant, a couple of sleepless nights getting over jet lag. However, after 15 years of marriage I knew better than to fight this and just factored it into our travels. After her nap we went for a walk looking for a nice French restaurant to have our first meal in Paris. As we turned a corner, she spotted a Burger King. "I have to have a cheeseburger" was her instant comment. We both laughed and went in and had a burger and fries. That was our first meal in Paris. We told that story many times over the next few years and got a chuckle out of being in Paris and eating fast food for our first meal. Probably gave us more memories than if we had eaten in a wonderful Paris restuarant (which we often did later). My wife passed away 6 years ago and believe it or not, a smile comes to my face every time I think of her saying, "I have to have a cheeseburger!"

I finally broke down after 2 days, to read this thread. <BR>Joe G, so sorry to hear about your wife, but what a great , funny memory to have of that trip and of her!! <BR>I hope you have lots more good memories stored away. <BR>

ttt

Joe G: thank you for sharing the anecdote about your first meal in Paris with your wife. It's a nice reminder that - it isn't where or what you eat, but who you share it with.

Excuse my ignorance (I know, I know, you have to excuse me often): What is tête de veau? Thx.

Laura: I've never seen them eat sausages with hamburger buns either - very strange. Maybe it wasn't a local vendor? <BR> <BR>Ursala: Regarding walking and eating at the same time, in Austria, they do have that problem solved. Basically, they take a hard baguette type roll and make a hole in it lenghtwise(not all the way through though) with this contraption they have. The hole is about the size of the sausage (about 6 inches long). Then they pour loads of spicy mustard in the roll, then stick the sausage in - causing the mustard to basically work it's way around the sausage so it's not all at the bottom of the roll. They also use ketchup if you don't like mustard. . . <BR>Emily

Thanks Emily. Ursula, now you know how to walk around eating wurst putting senf/ketchep on it. <BR>