Herculaneum

My last day in Sorrento was to be a sunny nautical hop over to the isle of Capri. Instead there were high wind warnings and rain forecast for most of the day. So I hopped on the convenient Circumvesuviana train and visited Herculaneum instead.
Following this street down the hill from the Ercolano train station, in the rain, took me to the Herculaneum entrance.

I waited for a while under this entry arch for it to stop raining.

Yes, Herculaneum was truly buried completely.

They have done a certain amount of reconstruction to the ruins. Door lintels have often been added/replaced. This is not unlike similar reconstruction that has taken place in ancient ruins in the Americas.

Here one can see surviving wood that was buried in volcanic mud, and is now covered with plexiglass to protect it. Next to it, uncovered, is new replacement wood, showing an accurate rendition of the original. Note mosaic floors.

The sun DID finally come out!

Casualties at the beach. Citizens were awaiting rescue but clouds of volcanic gases arrived first.

Center: the excavated, restored ancient beach.
Right: the alcoves where people whose bones remain where they died.
Left: how deep in volcanic detritus the former beach was buried.