http://www.nydailynews.com/real_esta...isas_lair.html
MccDonalds to open a restaurant (if you can really call it that) in the Louvre.
When I lived in Milan, Italy 20 years ago, there was a significant political and a lesser populist movement to prevent McDonalds from opening "restaurants" in certain parts of the city. It failed. The golden arches was undeterred. It would not be denied and after years of trying was successful. Talk of bribes, etc. ensued.
The juxtaposition of a Mickie D in this hallowed French icon is almost too good to be true.
You'd think that with all the hullaballoo from the Parisians concerning Pei's Pyramid at the entrance, a Mickie D's would never even be a consideration. Or have they actually been clamoring for something like this?
I remember my first trip to Europe was a semester in Dijon. The first thing I saw when I exited the train station? Golden freakin' Arches. I was very disappointed.
I don't think that's the point. As I see it, countries have their own icons which reflect their special culture. The Louvre, aside from Versailles and the Eiffel Tower, is the most 'French' of any of its icons. Beyond that, it is the home of world culture.
I think to many of us putting a foreign (read 'American') icon which represents a far lesser culture (fast food) in the middle of the Louvre seems beyond iconoclastic, and reaching into the realm of the heretical.
From the sublime (Winged Victory, Mona Lisa) to the ridiculous ('you want fries with that?') all in one take? Let 'em put the burger stand a few blocks away under the La Grande Roue (OK, for the South Carolinians, that's the big Ferris Wheel). (That's everyone but Sage -- even so, he moved to Colorado.)
In all fairness -- the Louvre (or whoever owns that food court) are the ones that agreed to install a McDonalds there. Also, if you've ever been there, it's really not that big of a deal. That area is already a mall-style food court and wasn't anything to be proud of.
I will say the most happy I ever was to see a McDonalds was in Grignols on a Sunday after a wedding in Cocumont. We were STARVING and as is the case on the French countryside -- EVERYTHING was closed on Sunday, including the markets. We drove around forever trying to find a place to eat and lo and behold, there were arches like a beacon of hope.
Especially the French - France is McDonald's's biggest market outside the US.
I'm with A-Tex on this one. Blame the Louvre (and/or the food shop owners) if you're offended, but blaming McDonald's or America is somewhat silly.
On a more fundamental level, I can't imagine this degrading the experience of visiting the Louvre one iota. A McDonald's at the entrance doesn't make the Mona Lisa any less stunning, etc., etc.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Wonder why they didn't choose Au Bon Pain? Perhaps McD is a secret / guilty pleasure to many Louvre visitors.
A year or two ago I was at the Field Museum in Chicago with my family and, having few choices, conceded to go to McDonalds. They had just added premium chicken to their menu and it was surprisingly decent. Just stay away from the Over McProcessed crap and you can do OK there.
Do you own a franchise or something? Many of the salads have more calories than the hamburgers. The main salads have between 400-630 or so calories with dressing, not to mention several hundred of those calories from fat (200+ with dressing on several of them). The premium chicken sandwiches have roughly the same amount of calories as the Big Mac (between 420 and 630). The Big Mac is 540 calories. If you add fries to that, you add a few hundred more calories. This doesn't even include whatever drink you get. There's saturated fat in all of those except the drink.
Oh, and the new Angus burgers have roughly 760 calories each.
I have no problem with going to McDonald's on occasion (once every few weeks), but eating it for lunch every day or several times a week is probably a bad idea.
Oh, and here is a really cool map of every McDonald's in the US. The farthest spot in the US away from a McDonald's franchise is 107 miles, which is in South Dakota.
http://media.weathersealed.com/maps/..._high_9_25.jpg