Tea at Trianon: Vive MacDonald's!

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, July 6, 2007

Vive MacDonald's!

McDonald's takes Paris. Via Lew Rockwell.

Actually, I must confess to having eaten at McDonald's several times while in France. When my husband and I were motoring through Languedoc and Auvergne on a budget, we twice stopped at a MacDonald's to save time and money. During the summer I spent in Lourdes, I went to MacDonald's every Friday for the shrimp salad. It was inexpensive but good, different from the Macdonald's over here. But usually, when in France, I would live on fruit, cheese and bread from the market, with wine or coffee to drink. For frugal travelers, there are many brasseries where one can get hearty soup or quiche for a few euros. Share

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Long before Genevieve went to France we stopped going to Maccy D's.

I entertained her with stories of my Bohemian youth in the south of Italy, and instilled in her the need to only favor the local flavors. Fortune had it that she should go to school in one f the best wine producing areas of France, Anjou...

She took my words to heart and spent her money on wine, bread and cheese, and returned with a love of escargot.

MacDonalds in France! A republican plot! NEVER!

de Brantigny; July 6, 2007 at 1:45:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: A republican plot, indeed. Now you have me feeling guilty....

I love escargots, too.; July 6, 2007 at 1:49:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: If the MacDonalds here served that kind of food I would eat there too! Shrimp Salad?; July 6, 2007 at 10:21:00 PM EDT