Amélie

(Your month long hike across France brings you outside the village of Lavardin, inside the Loire Valley. Spring's sweet scents fill the air with Touraine bellflowers and wild tulips scattered amongst the new grass that hangs over the dirt road winding along the countryside. Riding her bicycle beside the road within the colonies of bees and wildflowers is a pretty, young French girl. The basket on her handlebars full with this morning's colorful, fragrant harvest. Being a pleasant day, she stops and greets you with a kind smile and a language you have barely had time to learn even the most basic formalities of friendly small talk.)