It's a beautiful day in Norway's second-largest city of Bergen, and a stroll down cobblestone lanes seems like a great idea. There's the fish market, and street vendors selling reindeer pelts and long, knit winter hats. And then—making itself at home in a historic building on a corner—you're faced with the dreaded Golden Arches.
Yep, McDonalds has invaded the fresh northern air with its smell of french fries and...hot wings? As usual with foreign McD's, the menu varies:]]>
If there's one thing that's inescapable in Germany, it's sausage. You don't have to be eating it, but you will find a thousand variations of sausage specialties offered up everywhere from fancy restaurants to kiosks on train platforms. Because of the ubiquity of meat, we were delightfully surprised to find that McDonald's, usually the bringer of sandwiches covered in bacon and mystery sauce, is considering the rest of the population by offering a Veggieburger in German McDs.
Originally introduced in February, the Veggieburger is still touted as "Neu" (new), and is made with potatoes, peppers and carrots. In the ad above, the sauce looks suspiciously like mayonnaise when they could have chosen a healthier option, but Europeans love their mayo. ]]>
If there's one thing we've learned from our time plotting the Most Shocking McDonald's Locations in the World, it's that where there are tourists, there will also be the Golden Arches. From Krabi, Thailand to a rest stop in the Israeli desert, you simply can't escape Ronald (unless you're in Iraq).
Our next stop on our world tour of weird McDonald's locations takes us back into Europe, to the palatial grounds of Versailles, a French royal palace just outside of Paris. Although the palace is named Versailles, so is the town around it, and it's a town that boasts not one, but two McDonald's. ]]>
In our travels, we've seen fast food chains spreading faster than Avian Flu, and of course McDonald's leads the pack with locations as diverse as the Israeli desert, an ancient Roman site, and even the Museum of Communism in Prague. Earlier this month, we discovered that one golden arches sits among pagodas and mountains in a scenic area of southern China, and now continue on the exotic Asian streak with a McDonald's in Thailand.
Shauna Watson, the nomadic soul behind the site GypsyChickTravels.com reports of a McDonald's in Krabi, Thailand. On Shauna's bucket list as she travels around the world are curious things, like "eat a sheep eyeball" and "drink vodka in a yurt (before said eyeball)," so a little McDonald's shock in Thailand shouldn't be too bad, right?
Got another shocking McDonald's location we should know about? This is a running series, so email us your suggestions!
Related Stories:
· Have a Happy Meal in a Pagoda [Jaunted]
· Is There Really a McDonald's in Iraq? [Jaunted]
· The Most Shocking McDonald's Locations in the World [Jaunted]
· More McDonalds Locations That Make You Go 'Hmm' [Jaunted]
[Photo: Shauna Watson]]]>
In our travels, we've seen fast food chains spreading faster than Avian Flu, and of course McDonald's leads the pack with locations as diverse as the Israeli desert, an ancient Roman site, and even the Museum of Communism in Prague. But never have we seen one in a Chinese village...with its own scenic bridge and pagoda neighbor.
A reader actually discovered the curious place, and although he doesn't admit to stopping in for some McNuggets, he does give plenty of info on the destination: ]]>
We have discussed our love for shocking McDonald’s locations before, but we this is the first one we’ve seen where you can’t order a Big Mac or even an order of fries. In Des Plaines, Illinois sits a replica of the very first McDonald’s that opened in April of 1955. McDonald’s purists don’t be alarmed—the very first restaurant was located in San Bernardino, California—but this Illinois location was the first franchise location that Ray Kroc opened.
The original place was refurbished a couple times, but the suits at McD’s apparently had enough dealing with its upkeep and the place was leveled in 1984. The restaurant was then reconstructed using the original blueprints with a few changes to make the place comfy and cozy for both visitors and staff. At least that means that there are no rogue French fries from the 1950s still hanging out somewhere. ]]>
When in London recently, we came across yet another McDonald's in an odd spot, to add to our ever-growing map of the Most Shocking McDonald's Locations. In search of an English Breakfast sandwich we had once had at a British McD's, we walked to a golden arches nearby the Marble Arch tube stop in London. While eating our bacon roll—sadly the English Breakfast sandwich is no more—we Wikipediaed the location and discovered that it was once the site of Tyburn Tree, a gallows where criminals and Catholic martyrs were hung for almost 500 years.
And now we're eating hash browns and egg mcmuffins there.
A better view of that Bacon Roll, and more history after the jump ]]>