Despite the heat, we walked to the Beit Chamese (House of the Sun), where we'd be spending the next 2 nights.Thank goodness we had some help as the 5-minute walk turned into 15 minutes and we were sopping by the time we arrived.The Beit Chamese is a guest house that is not yet fully open and was booked by Maria only after she sent the owner out to take photos and email them to her so we could see if we liked it.Remember, that we only booked this place as the Beit Rose was full.What a stroke of total blessed, divine intervention.Sameh, the owner of this most delightful, charming and beautiful guest house, was a true joy and we made friends instantly.He'd given us the suite which was massive and so ornately and elaborately decorated.It turns out that Sameh works in the travel business and is, by all accounts, very professional and well respected.We loved the place and spent hours sitting in his courtyard, listening to the water trickling from the fountain, and talking.

He asked me if I was any good at English as he wanted some help with the English description for the guest house on his pending website.Of course I said and no sooner had he given me the Word document on memory stick than it was covered with track changes and, what I like to call, enhancements.He approved the changes without question.

We took the opportunity in the afternoon to visit the National Museum that was missed form our original itinerary.What an amazing, amazing museum.Unfortunately, photography was not allowed as we were lucky enough to view some of the most wonderful treasures from antiquity that must exist anywhere.The highlights for me were the Ugarit tablet bearing the first Sumerian alphabet dating from around 6000BC and the 170,000 year old skeleton of a Neanderthal child found in a Syrian cave.The pre-history section of the museum was actually closed for renovation and we only knew of its existence because we got chatting to one of the museum staff and he told us to go and see it, along with the mausoleum in the garden. I'm sure Maria is blessed as chance happenings seem to be constantly opening new doors for us.The mausoleum was pretty special too and we even gained access to the closed Byzantine section by bunging a guard a few Syrian pounds.

Dinner was back at the Naranja, which was empty this time, and we again ate a feast for pennies.