Leffe.

I make new friends while travelling ...

Picnics on the balcony on Leffe.

The Italian countryside ...

From a church window in Lovere.

In the cemetary in Clusone, Italy.

It was an incredible chore to find our B and B, Locanda Biancospino, in (or, rather, above) the village of Leffe, but after several attempts and more mangled Italian (I can't make much sense of the language), we found it, high on a hillside, and it's gorgeous.

Strangely, however, there are no phones we can use, breakfast is the same (croissants, toast, plus something sweet, like strudel, and yogurt) every day (oh, what we'd do for bacon and eggs!), and the walks around here all require Herculean legs and the lungs of an Olympic marathoner.

Still, what a view, and we're very close to the woods. Cuckoos and blackbirds sing all the day through, and there are farms with sheep and horses nearby.

I love the old stone haymows that are built above the houses, and how the farms and towns intermingle. Italy is quaint in so many ways ... old men using scythes to cut the grass ... small tractors ... women in housedresses sweeping off their patios, or in their suits (with shoulderpads) bustling around the cathedrals ... trucks large enough to transport two cows at a time.

We're all about the walking. Here are a few of our views.