Ciao

We're having a wonderful time in Italy where we are currently sitting in the shade, sheltering from heat of the day after a great trip to Herculaneum this morning.  More on that later, we'll start with a tour of the small town of Sorrento which is where we are based.  We had a walk round on Saturday and discovered some lovely places and one particular treasure, the cloister of St Francis.  It was cool and tranquil and the plants were wonderful, we sat for quite a while watching the geckos.
It is absolutely amazing to see how Mount Vesuvius dominates the landscape here, it's so close.  No worries about eruptions, it is very carefully monitored these days (so they tell us anyway).
Little Sam has been coping very well with early starts, late dinners and everybody speaking Italian.   He is bellissimo!  He can say "ciao" and amazed DD and me by knowing the word "statue", how?  He was delighted to find that there are baked beans here (although the hotel toaster leaves much to be desired, is that a universal hotel failing?) and has had some delicious gelato.  I have only had one pizza so far!

Yes, these people are sunbathing!  Off to see if it's cool enough to take Sam swimming, more another day.