McDonald's

To be honest, since arriving in Belgium I haven't really had any desire to go to a McDonald's. I only know of one McDonald's in Brussels and I always thought it looked pretty American. I actually went inside it last night for our last "fat kids'" meal (that's another story) and it was actually pretty different. I have noticed that, in general, McDonald's over here in Europe are a lot more posh than back in the States. There was one in Galway, Ireland that even had cushioned rotating arm chairs at every table. The restaurant here in Brussels (pictured above) isn't quite that stylish. However, there is a significantly different feel when you walk in the restaurant compared to back in South Carolina. Back home, I always thought of McDonald's as a restaurant made out of bright colors and plastic, geared mostly toward kids. Here the McDonald's looks more high class. It is decorated with more neutral colors and the furniture has a more sophisticated, even stylish, look to it. The menus are generally the same with slight differences in feature items. There is no dollar menu here, which is unfortunate. There is a "euro menu" but it isn't everything for a euro. It lists things for one or two euros. They don't have value meals here but instead sell the sandwich and drinks separately. This is one huge difference--no free refills!! I can't wait to get back to the States and my free refills!! Also, you have to pay for ketchup here, 0,50 euro for a little thing of ketchup. That goes against everything I hold dear. I'm pretty sure that ketchup is a basic human right at all McDonald's so it is almost blasphemous to me to have to pay for it.
It was a crowded day yesterday because Carnival was going on in the middle of the street and everywhere in Brussels. Since the lines at the restaurant were backed up to the doors, one of the McDonald's employees came to the people in the middle of the lines, took their order, and gave them a piece of paper to give to the register, and went on to the next person. I had never seen that happen before. Overall it was a good experience but it was a little expensive.