Bourse, Brussels
8:30 pm

I have been spending a lot of time over the last 24 hours in a certain McDonald's because the internet was not yet up in my flat. On the inside, it is probably the poshest McDonald's I have ever been in. (I thought about taking a picture of the wood paneling, sleek decorations, and wall with world clocks showing the time in London, New York, etc., but somehow taking a picture in a crowded fast food restaurant would have felt a little awkward.)

Only after I got home this evening did I realize that the McDonald's is probably so nice because it located directly across the street from the Brussels stock exchange building. (Had I spoken French, I would have realized that "bourse," the name of the metro stop in the area, is apparently the word for market or stock exchange.) According to Wikipedia, it was founded by Napoleonic decree in 1801. Sweet.