Zee,

Touring Europe? Some people have all the fun. Good for you. So McD has a €1 value meal there. Now converting it to the weak dollar and the adding value added tax, that comes out to about US$5,000, right?

I have images of Europe still knowing pretty much small mom & pops. But the EU is supposedly providing more of a single market for European businesses. Do you see evidence of indigenous chains, e.g. Brut's Belgian Chocolates? Any local big box retailers?