Carbohydrates

My French lessons of late have been focusing heavily on verb tenses: plus-que-parfait, past tense, conditional, imperfect, future, near future, and then of course how they fit together to make an impossibly complicated and non-intuitively-constructed sentence. Nonetheless, when I can craft a seemingly complicated but easily assembled verb tense in my own language, I have a sort of unearned but still delightful sense of accomplishment.

So, I can say, confidently and correctly that as of today, I will have been in Paris for three weeks and one day. Further, I would like to think that I have learned or observed the following things and/or compulsions.

1. It is nearly impossible for me to accidentally eat 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The only exception to this I have found is that might be achievable if baguettes count as grains and toppings on tarts count as fruits. Wednesday's menu may be illustrative: for "brunch" I had an Orangina (mix between orange juice and orange Crush), a ham/butter sandwich, and an apricot tart.





But I was in the Place de Vosges, which seems it should make it more nutritious.



Later, I had two bottles of water in the afternoon, and for dinner, a croque monsieur sandwich (nearly the same thing as brunch but it was open faced and had melted cheese) that came with one 7-bite salad, and a beer.



And I'm slightly ashamed that afterwards, I had a Coke and small fries at McDonald's, from where I wrote the above, where I had hoped to access their wifi (unsuccessfully; only got the bathroom code). Somehow, my pants fit better. I love this diet!



At least there is a picture of a vegetable.

2. I often feel compelled to not brush my hair, wear clothes that don't match, wear dangling earrings, frequently contort my face, and drink lots of little espressos to feel more French.

3. I at some point acquired an irresistible urge to have something sweet after each meal or in place of a meal. I eat pains au chocolate for breakfast, have decided it would be prudent to eat macarons and palmiers as much as is sustainable to determine my favorite boulangeries and patisseries, and almost always take dessert when I dine out as it seems the only responsible way to learn about France.

But, I have been feeding my soul in other ways. Here are recent photos of Claude Monet's gardens and house at Giverny.