Herculaneum

Buon Giorno,
When I was on my way home a guy tried to sell me socks in the Metro.  How many people have ever been waiting on the platform and suddenly thought, "Wow. I need socks right away?"  No one ever is my guess. Nobody wanted his socks, and he went away disgruntled. I think the dude is in the wrong business.
Herculaneum is easy to get to from Naples--along with a lot of other enticing stops along the Circumvesuviana, which is a dedicated railway line running from Naples to Sorrento. I'll be taking it again.  However, I began my day with a walk to Piazza Garabaldi to get some cash from the machine.
Then I proceeded to the station following the signs to the Circumvesuviana section and got in line for a ticket.  I spent a lot of time waiting in line today, but the experience was worth it.
You can expect the trains to be late about ten to fifteen minutes, but they do come, and they do get you where you want to go.  But the stops on the line are popular and we were packed in closer than sardines.  I was braced against one of my fellow travelers, but I felt less bad about this when he had questions I could actually answer.
A lot of us got out at Ercolano Scavi, the correct stop. The visitor can walk to the site downhill easily, but some people were fooled by the "Bus to Vesuvius" signs.  I went down hill, but I turned aside for a virtual reality exhibit of the town before the incident in 79 CE.  I found it interesting.  The best part was a terrifying 3D video of the eruption starting within the bowels of the Earth. Yike. There's nothing like the illusion of pumice and ash coming at you.
I walked down to the archeological park, which is close to the Med, so I got a look at the water.  I had to wait in line some more as the site is justly popular, and only one ticket window was open.
Herculaneum was discovered only in the late Eighteenth Century and only seriously excavated in the Nineteenth.  What has been uncovered is much smaller than Pompeii, because the rest of the town is under people's houses, roads, etc.  But Herculaneum is in better shape than Pompeii, for example some of the buildings still have their roofs.
I didn't get the audio guide.  I just wandered around and in and out.  I'd seen a similar presentation of every day Roman life at Ostia on my last visit to Italy, but I still found Herculaneum satisfying.  I did  not go in to every single building, but I went in a lot and saw some very cool frescos and mosaics.  Then it grew hot, and I grew tired.
I got the train back and took the Metro to the nearest stop to my home.  I'm sipping the last of the Greco de Tufa, but it's so refreshing I'll get some more.
It was good to get out of town today.  Naples is "vibrant" meaning full of noise and chaotic action.  It's not really my kind of place (although I have a deep appreciation for the art and history), so I like retreating to the peace and quiet of my apartment, but I can't help but notice that the natives live largely outdoors.
And have I truly mastered pasta e cacio?  I have the sad suspicion it will only work with obtained in Italy ingredients.  The wine though!  The wines of the Campania have been famous and desired since Roman times, and one of the most valued was Falernian.  The grapes and vinticulture have no doubt  changed since then, but I have what is the closest to what Cicero and Julius Caesar would have sipped, and dang if it isn't Really Really Good!
Ciao