Beginning at the St. Paul Tube Stop, we had no trouble spotting our guide. He was dressed in a long, black hooded cape, and his tall, thin frame and ghostly pallor certainly set the mood for the walk.

We roamed the area around St. Paul's, down dark passageways and into secret courtyards, accompanied by Shaughan's insightful commentary. We then walked northwest past the Old Bailey, a haunted bombed-out churchyard that has been turned into a rose garden, West Smithfield (where William Wallace and many Protestant martyrs were put to death), and then into the churchyard of St. Bartholomew the Great.

There is apparently a ghost every few feet in London, and I don't want to spoil the walk for anyone by giving too many details. We had no frightening experiences, although we did stay pretty close together. It's easy to let your imagination run wild when you're walking around in a 2,000-year-old city.

Even for those not particularly interested in ghosts, this is a great tour. Shaughan threw in plenty of history and anecdotes that did not involve the supernatural, and it was a great opportunity to explore the city at night without feeling unsafe.

This group was larger and rowdier than the sedate group that toured the Inns of Court the day before. Several of the younger people fortified their nerve with cans of beer (carried in their pockets), and by the end of the tour, they were feeling no pain. But Shaughan handled the situation well, and everyone had a good time.

I spent many hours on this trip to London taking walks all over Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington. It was an opportunity to experience how London moves about during a normal day. This was the point at which we were still looking at moving to the U.K. While on these walks, I went to see many shops not otherwise found, pubs not otherwise visited, and random people to talk to. It was a chance to see what we would be getting ourselves into if the move had occurred.

Every time I'm in London, I make a point to go on a different London Walk. Don't be mislead by the imitation London Walk companies; this is the original. The guides are seasoned pros, passionate about their subject matter, and able to field even the most arcane question. For added atmosphere, they dress the part (Richard the III, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes...). Many of them are accomplished actors or actresses in their own right.

My first London Walk some years back (in the 1980's, if the truth be known) was on a Ghost Walk in the Old City. After the first walk, I was hooked. There are walks to suit every interest: Magical Mystery Tour walks, Jack the Ripper walks, historic pub walks, Charles Dickens walks, walks featuring London's famous eccentrics, Mayfair walks... the list goes on and on.

On this trip, I chose to go on an "Oscar Wilde" walk. The guide, Alan, was easy to spot when I arrived at the meeting point. He was turned out in full Oscar regalia, complete with green carnation. For two solid hours this man with the gift 'o gab charmed us, showing us around a small section of Mayfair once frequented by Oscar: the places where he bought his cigarettes, his clothes, his hair tonic, his hangover remedy (which I sampled in the shop where it's made to order); not to mention the places he'd meet Bosie or spots where the Marquis of Queensbury tracked him down and insulted him. Alan knew everything and I mean everything there was to know about Oscar Wilde. Amazingly enough, though, he wasn't the least bit pedantic. He loved his subject and really warmed to the questions the fairly knowledgeable people that were in our group asked him.

London Walks meet in the morning, afternoon, and evenings, with different walks held on different days of the week. Check their web site or the London Edition of Time Out magazine for the schedule.

I really liked walking around and seeing things for myself in this walking tour. The guide was very knowledgeable and I didn't get bored for a minute (considering I have an attention span of a mouse). You're learning history (not just about bad ol' Jack, but about the significance of the neighborhood through London's history) and excercising at the same time... but actually enjoying it. Crazy.

The tour meets at the Tower Hill underground stop right around dusk. Our tour leader, Donald Rumbelow, wrote the book "The Complete Jack the Ripper" and is considered one of the top Ripperologists in the world. Needless to say, he really knew his stuff. He not only taught us about Jack the Ripper, but he painted a picture of British society back in 1888. I found it both fascinating and informative. We stopped off at a half dozen or so spots on the tour where Ripper killings had taken place or evidence had been found. Some of the streets in the East End look as if they haven't changed in the more than 100 years since Jack's time, which added to the scare factor. This is a great way to see some out-of-the-way areas of the city's East End in a safe manner, and learn a bit of English history as well.