Would You Like Fries With Your Mona Lisa Value Meal?

This tickles me. To death almost.

The Louvre is opening a McDonalds. The golden arches restaurant will open next month in the underground shopping plaza beneath I.M. Pei's glass pyramid in the museum courtyard, making it the 1,142nd McDonald's location in France. Louvre is opening up a brand new ticket area, and the new McDonald's will be the first site to visitors.

Why open up a McDonalds in the Louvre? The only official commentary was from a Louvre spokesperson who said, "The outlet would be the 'American' representative in a 'rich and varied' food court, said a spokesman for the Louvre."

I'm not surprised to hear that Louvre staffers are completely outraged at the thought of smelling a Big Mac in the galleries. "This is the last straw," an anonymous art historian at the museum told the paper. "This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum." (Daily Telegraph)

Take what you will from this news bit. I'm a museum staffer, and I'm thrilled at the fact Chick-Fil-A is donating food for the next four First Friday programs at the Arts ConnectED first look pARTies! However, the French cannot deny the stats...France is the second leading country (behind US of course) in number of McDonald's location...they don't call fries French for nothing.