The Friday before Larry left (Feb. 16), we went on a ghost walk in York. http://www.yorkshirenet.co.uk/yorkghostwalk/ We dropped Ryan off at Natasha's house, and were on the road at 7pm. York is only about 15 miles away, and the tour didn't start until 8pm. You would think an hour would be plenty of time to travel 15 miles and park. But no. This is North Yorkshire. Somehow it took us over an hour to get to York and park. Then we still had to find the King's Arms Pub, where the tour meets. We walked along the river Ouse (pronounced "ooze") on Dame Judi Dench walk. We realized we were never going to make the tour on time, but Larry was bound and determined to at least find the place.

We had pretty much chalked this trip up to Misbegotten Adventures in England (eternal thanks to Carissa for that title!), when we found the pub, AND saw that the tour was just a short way off and hadn't actually started yet. We showed up just in time to pay. (Darn!) It was a perfect night for a ghost walk: cool and misty, and dark. We'd been on a ghost walk before in Prague, but it was during high summer and it was still light out. Things just aren't as spooky in the light of day.

The tour got started, and was enjoyable. The gentleman telling the stories was an accomplished and entertaining storyteller. The stories were spooky and interesting. We walked around the city, listening to various tales. Before we knew it, the tour was over. Our tour guide had a book he'd written with all the stories and more in it, for only 3.50 pounds! Yes, we got a copy! I'm the one who wanted it, but Larry's the one who took off with it when he left for Maryland. Go figure!

There are at least a couple other ghost walks in York. Larry and I agreed it would be fun to collect them.

On the walk back to the car, we saw something swimming in the river we couldn't identify. It wasn't a duck or a fish. It seemed kind of skinny for an otter. I have no idea what varieties of semi-aquatic wildlife populate the river Ouse. Seeing an odd creature swimming in the river was a fitting end to our ghost walk experience!