Fellow Foodbeast writers Isai, Elie and myself were on day two of our European cruise when we ported in Italy. The agenda of the day was to have a slice of Italian pizza near a bunch of landmarks and buy Leaning Tower of Pisa souvenirs for our moms.

As we were herded by our tour guide, along with a thousand other cattle, eagerly looking to Instagram the great monument, a familiar sight caught my eye: McDonald's.

I'm in Italy for the first time in my life. There's a pizzeria behind me, a gelato cart to my right and yet there's something about those two golden arches that draws me in. No, this wasn't a super flashy McDonald's with two separate drive-thrus. Rather, it was an old building with the McDonald's logo slapped onto the walls.

"Hold up, guys. I'm gonna check out this McDonald's real quick," I say to the other two. The guys follow me into the restaurant.

Le Omelete

Two things caught my attention the moment I set foot in the building. A few kiosks centered by the doorway that let you customize and build you own meal, and a bright, aromatic display case full of warm breakfast pastries.

Since our Italian-speaking skills were as good as the Mario Brothers, nonexistent, we decided to skip the machines. Maybe we'll fare better with actual humans.

Isai ordered the Le Omelete, a breakfast entree that consisted of eggs, priscuitto and cheese. It came with a toasted English McMuffin for 2.80 euros. I'll admit, I was pretty jealous.

Lactose intolerance really sucks sometimes, but I was gonna be on a 2 hour bus ride. Pick your battles, Pete.

The squared pieces of eggs sandwiched together a slice of pork. It was both covered and filled with cheese. Isai was pretty pleased with his breakfast choice. The Foodbeast What's Up? editor said:

“I didn’t feel like was gonna die. Usually when I have McDonald’s I feel like my heart’s gonna explode.”

He even made a sandwich from the materials he was given. It was a thing of beauty, and quite fitting for such a beautiful country.

Pastries

There was a display case full of mouth-watering pastries. This included brioches, muffins, macarons and donuts. We grabbed a few, eager to sink our teeth into

After Isai ordered his meal, I try to order some breakfast pastries. The cashier tells me to come with her to the pastry section where she takes my order in a completely separate area. Turns out the restaurants divided into fast food and breakfast pastries.

Makes sense for those looking for a balanced breakfast in the mornings and those looking to grab a quick muffin.

Speaking of muffins, check out some of the goodies we got.

Nutella-stuffed muffins

Nutella-anything is pretty much a winner in my book, but if you stuff it inside a soft butter muffin, you pretty much nailed pastries.

Chocolate tortes

Probably the richest thing available in the pastry section. I could feel my veins thickening with milk chocolate.

Marshmallow-covered donuts

For something that sounds so magical, it definitely could have been better. Still, it's pretty photogenic, don't ya think?

Our bellies content, having overslept that morning and missing breakfast, we cleared our tables and rushed off to fulfill the day's original agenda.

Crushed it.