Eeek!

Mutterings continued.

Got up to find the remains of a Huntsperson spider in the lounge - just a crumpled body and one leg. Now, I'm fine when it comes to reptiles, love snakes and crocs, and I like sharks and hyena and all the other critters that most people don't, but spiders give me the heebies! I'm a card carrying arachnophobe and I don't care who knows it! My friend Ash pursuaded me to visit the arachnid display in the butterfly house in Statford, but I ended up standing in the middle of the room, hands clenched into fists and on the verge of shrieking. I'd never hurt a spider (couldn't get close enough to do any damage) but I'm rather glad that Gus dispatched this one for me before I discovered it lurking.

No blog yesterday as I went to see LXG last night. Say it loud, say it proud, I enjoyed it! So there.

Yesterday's this time last year:

Caught the Metro to Piazza di Spagna, the Spanish Steps, home of all the VERY expensive shops in Rome - Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, etc etc. Did a lot of window shopping but not much buying. I discovered a great record shop where I finally bought the DVD of McKellen's Richard III, or rather Riccardo III. It has an English language option but the menu and cover are in Italian. The Euro conversion made it much cheaper than the UK version.

A movie was being shot in one of the side streets off the Piazza. I didn't catch the name of it but think it was the teen flick that was released this year.

More Italian TV - MTV showed Italian dubbed anime - Ranma and Saiyuki. Also saw a game show, the object of which was to work out which guy had the biggest package. They then dropped their trousers to prove it.

Today's this time last year:

I caught the train to Ostia Antica - an ancient harbour city that is being excavated. I spent the day there and could have gone back for more.








Amphitheatre


Outside of amphitheatre


Mosaics are fascinating.



The museum housed a lot of statues, some in excellent condition, others not. I ran out of film and had to buy a disposable camera as there were so many more photos I wanted to take.

Ostia is another place that takes more than one day to see properly.