As I had predicted, I found our trip to Herculaneum to be hot. Very hot. It was an easy ten minute walk from Ercolano train station down to the archeological site. We joined an English speaking guided tour led by a determined and knowledgable guide. Our group, thrust together for one hour in the middle of our lives, never to meet again, were all very enthusiastic and asked lots of questions. There was an Italian / American family who included two cute little girls, aged about three and five. At the start of the tour the younger one asked "What happened to the town?" and her big sister replied "It was destroyed by the volcano" The wee one then said "Oh NO!" in a shocked tone which I thought was very sweet. Their Gran noticed that I was suffering in the heat (I wasn't whinging but I was hanging back in the shade whenever possible) and informed me that Pompeii is much hotter and less sheltered - every time she noticed me loitering in the shadows she said "Pompeii is worse!" out of the corner of her mouth.
After our tour we went into a restaurant for a light lunch and a cool drink. By this time I was in total melt-down and, as well as slaking my thirst with a bottle of mineral water, I discreetly poured a little water on my head and splashed some on my face. I didn't realise that anyone had noticed until the waitress came over with a mop to dry the floor beside me. I think she was annoyed because she purposely mopped my feet too. James was mortified and told me that I had splashed some water on the people at the next table. However as we left the restaurant the head waiter gave me a new bottle of mineral water for free, which I thought was very kind of him.
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