Scorchio!

The breakfast here at the hotel is really peculiar. It includes the standard fare as expected: fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereals, a cooked breakfast and a variety of breads and jams. The peculiar part is the pastry table. It's not just your normal choice of croissants and pains au chocolat. No, this pastry table is covered with a sort of delightful confections that you would expect in a patisserie in Paris for afternoon tea! It all looks delicious but hardly breakfast fare! This didn't stop me from partaking enthusiastically, although when I mentioned to James how much I had enjoyed it, he pointed out grimly that most of what I had consumed was pure sugar! 

I had a bit of a shock yesterday afternoon at how hot it was when we went out for a walk around the town. Thus far our walks have consisted of a meander around the verdant hotel gardens or a stroll in the evening around the pedestrian area. This had given me the false impression that I am coping well with the heat. However yesterday afternoon's walk, although picturesque, was a little bit more strenuous and I was soon exhausted and lashing with sweat. And when we got back to the hotel I just kept getting hotter as if a nuclear reactor had been activated inside me. I have noticed this before when I get over-heated - once in Tuscany years ago I went out into a field near our villa to take photographs of sunflowers with my SLR camera. This was in the days when you had to get the film developed, so I took about forty photographs in order to get one or two good ones - mind you it was worth it because one was absolutely perfect. When I got back to the villa I was in melt-down - I was so hot that even the pool was not cold enough to cool me down, and I had to run myself a bath of cold water in the villa to stay alive.

So this morning we are on our way to Herculaneum by train. I feel quite excited but my blood runs cold at the thought of the heat ahead. Or should I say my blood runs hot!