Florent is Shy in Orleans
The Loire Valley is famous for its chateaus. By the time I got there, I was quite finished taking castles tours. I just visited just a couple to look at the gardens. Instead of castle tours, I preferred drinking local white wines and soaking up the sun in camp. I liked sitting looking at the shallow, sandy river.
I met Florent, my three-day French boyfriend, in Tours. It seems the liveliest of the Loire cities. Amazed by my carefree attitude and sporty biking outfit, he invited me to visit his home in Orleans. A few days later, I was pleased to have a personal tour of Orleans (this took surprisingly little time) and a bit of home cooking. Joan of Arc is not from Orleans. However, she liberated the city and discovered the King before getting set to flame by the English. Florent pronounces her “JeinDARC” and always exceptionally fast, so I was often confused unless we were standing under her statues.
I am a fan of three-day boyfriends. They can be relaxingly sweet and low pressure. Florent met up with me a couple days later to act as my personal translator at Fontainebleau. Thank goodness as the relics of Napoleon blurred my vision. We found a badly-needed cafe after the several hours of tours and toasted to empires gained and lost. Honestly, we made jokes about Napoleon’s fancy tent.
Our dinner was a picnic on the Seine as the sun went down. Yep, it was just as cliché as an American could want, perfect.
Addendum: October 8
Dear Knox;
-I received your mail and i was happy to see your well, i hope your job searching go on.
-My mail perhaps will be strange sometimes because i lost my english dictionary…
[ed note: etc, etc, sweetness&humor&oddgrammar, etc.]
-I kiss you friendly, florent.
Scenes along the Loire
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