Worcester, England

Yesterday morning we hopped on a train out of London, headed for Worcester, a little English town a few hours northwest of London.  The reason for this is that my friend Chella has a distant relative that lives there, who we had promised to visit while we were in Britain.  We arrived in the afternoon, and right away spotted a lady who we thought must be Helen, the relative that Chella had never actually met  in person, but only corresponded with over e-mail.  She somehow recognized us right away, and she and her husband, who was also there to meet us, took us back to their house to drop off our things.  She put us in a cute little attic room which we had all to ourselves, and gave us some time to get settled before pulling out the family photos and "introducing" us to the rest of her family.  Chella's family is Greek, and Helen is the last "true" Greek of the family.  Apparently you can only be a true Greek if you speak Greek, and are of the Greek Orthodox religion.  Since Helen grew up in Corinth speaking Greek as her first language, she fits the bill perfectly.  She even still owns her family's original house in Corinth (which I know because we are going to stay there when we go to Greece in a few weeks!).

Later in the day, Helen took us for a walk around the town, and we took a quick look inside Worcester Cathedral, which was much bigger than I was expecting.  Then for dinner, we were lucky enough to get a real English roast dinner, which was delicious after a few days of subsiding on hostel-cooked food.  Then we met Helen's daughter Dee, and spent the rest of the evening talk to her.

 
Yesterday morning, we went back to the cathedral for a more detailed look around.  On the way there, we walked along the River Severn and saw some swans!

This was followed by a trip to the Worcester museum.  By the way, did you know that Worcestershire sauce originated in Worcester?  I do, as there was an entire display devoted to it in the museum!  In case you're wondering, it was first made at 68 Broad Street, Worcester by Misters Lea & Perrins at some point in the 1830s.  After the museum, we took Helen's dog Ronnie for a walk in some hills on the outskirts of the town.  It reminded me of exactly what I would expect the English countryside to look like.

 

That afternoon Helen's daughter-in-law stopped by to meet us, and then her son and her other daughter-in-law, and their three children came over for dinner.  They were all very friendly, and the kids were adorable.  Here's a picture of them: