What Disappears When the Chains Leave

There’s a cheeseburger in a glass case in Reykjavik. It’s not a relic, just the last McDonald’s burger ever sold in Iceland—bought the day the chain closed in 2009. People still visit it, half as a joke, half as a dare. It hasn’t rotted. It hasn’t changed. When McDonald’s left, nobody really mourned the food. But something else went missing: the weird comfort of sameness, the way a Big Mac tastes like a layover in any city. Now, Icelanders eat local fast food, and tourists take photos of a burger that’s more artifact than meal. Sometimes, what you miss isn’t the thing itself, but the feeling of knowing exactly what you’ll get—until it’s gone. #Travel #Food tourism #TravelOddities