French Vending Machines

The great mystery of the skinny French lady with the Twix bar has officially been solved. It turns out that to find the American candy, all I had to do was take a gander at my local RER station's vending machines.   Alongside the vacuum packed waffles, Kinder Bueno, and Orangina one may find Twix, Skittles, M&Ms, and Snickers.

But truly, who can tell me what's going on with the vacuum packed waffles?  I mean, not only have I never seen this before, it just seems kind of odd and gross.  Is it being snobby to say that waffles should be made to-order and eaten hot?  Plus,  I'm an American.  What's a waffle without maple syrup?  The whole point of eating a waffle instead of a pancake is that you can collect butter, syrup and other heart-healthy ingredients in the square crevices.  Can't you just imagine an American munching on a sticky syrup covered waffle in the middle of the train?  To me, that's more plausible than eating a stale, preservative-laden hunk of carbohydrates plain, with nothing to overpower the taste of plastic packaging.

Please, correct me if I'm wrong in my ideas of these oddities.  Has anyone reading this ever enjoyed one of these €1 snacks?  That's another thing, it sort of terrifies me that the waffles cost less than the pack of gum also offered in this machine.

Maybe I'm becoming more European, because the only thing I even considered buying from this machine was a multi-pack of Kinder Bueno.  You save €0.60 per bar; it's such a good deal!  Okay, so maybe my reasoning is still American.

Any Americans out there hyperventilating at the idea of drinking a lukewarm soda or bottle of juice? 

I'll leave you today with an image from last night.  The view of L’église Saint-Eustache from La Canopée at Les Halles.  It always makes me smile to see this when coming up the stairs from the métro