Ricky – Page 30

Masurian Lakes – Mikolajki to Gizycko

Our floating home from 10th - 17th October 2015 © Ricky Yates — Our floating home from 10th – 17th October 2015 © Ricky Yates

The Masurian lakes are located in the far north-east of Poland, not far from the border with Belarus, Lithuania and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. They consist of a series of moraine-dammed lakes, interconnected by a number of short, man-made canals. There are only two locks, both at the southern extremities of the navigable system.

The area has been popular for boating and sailing since the early 1920s. It is an amazing natural paradise and motor boats are prohibited from some areas, in order to protect the flora and fauna.

Mikolajki, where Marina Miko is located, lies at the centre of the lakes area. It is one of the main centres for visitors to Masuria, with a variety of hotels, apartments for rent, boatyards and restaurants.

When we finally arrived at Marina Miko, following our ‘interesting’ and expensive taxi journey, we were met by Magda and Jacek. Magda spoke virtually word-perfect German and some English. Jacek had some English. So most of our handover procedures and instruction, was conducted auf Deutsch, with translation back into English by Sybille, when I didn’t completely understand the German, and translation into Polish by Magda for Jacek, when Sybille asked something on our behalf, auf Deutsch 🙂

We discovered that we were not only, the sole hire boat leaving the marina that day, we were also the very last hirers of the 2015 season, even though the hire brochure states that there is availability for two further weeks, until the end of October. Magda suggested that we must be pretty hardy characters to be boating in mid-October in northern Poland, bearing in mind that the maximum temperature that day was 6° Celsius.

Two things were made to clear to us. Because of the lack of rainfall over the summer months – Poland having experienced in July and August, similar heatwave and drought conditions as the Czech Republic, water levels were up to one metre lower than normal. This meant that the whole south-eastern area, including Lake Sniardwy, the largest lake in Poland, together with the canal and lock leading to the town of Pisz, were off-limits because of the lack of sufficient depth of water. A number of other little bays off other lakes, were also unavailable for cruising, for the same reason.

Secondly, because it was the end of the boating season, there were now only a few places where we could moor overnight and have access to electric power and water. These were duly marked on our cruising map.

Fortunately, the good ship ‘Mamry’, our home for the following week, had a very effective gas-fired hot air heating system, which had been switched on for a few hours in advance of our arrival. However, after a brief instructional cruise, we tied up once more at Marina Miko, allowing us to take full advantage of the onshore facilities – shower and toilet, together with a 240 volt electric connection for the boat. That evening, we walked over the footbridge into the main part of Mikolajki, having our evening meal in a restaurant that declared itself to be ‘Russian friendly’, but only in English!

Our restaurant declared itself to be 'Russian friendly' :-) © Ricky Yates — Our restaurant declared itself to be ‘Russian friendly’ 🙂 © Ricky Yates

The next morning, Sunday 11^th October, we set off to cruise northwards to Gizycko, where we were assured that Ekomarina was still fully operational.

Cruising through Mikolajki © Ricky Yates

First, we had to pass through three bridges that link the two halves of Mikolajki – a footbridge, a road bridge and a railway bridge.

Then we cruised along Lake Talty……

…..before entering the first of four, fairly short canals, that link three small intervening lakes.

On the way, we met this motorised yacht.

The last of these four canal sections, is both the longest, at 2360 metres, and also has a 90° bend, as well as having some beautiful Autumn colours.

We then cruised the length of the much larger and longer Lake Jagodne, before arriving at this bridge, which spans a 100 metre long canal linking to the next lake, Lake Boezne.

Then came the village of Rydzewo on our right…….

……before we set out to cross Lake Niegocin and reach Gizycko.

'Mamry' moored at Gizycko © Sybille Yates — ‘Mamry’ moored at Gizycko © Sybille Yates

Having moored on one of the floating pontoons at Ekomarina, we went to the marina office to announce our arrival. On payment of 54 zloty/CZK 350, we were allowed to connect to mains electricity, given swipe cards that allowed access to onshore toilets and showers, and which also gave access to another room with a washing machine! We decided to take full advantage!

Sunset at Giztcko © Sybille Yates — Sunset at Gizycko © Sybille Yates

That evening, we were treated to a most beautiful sunset……..

..…after which, we headed into Gizycko, past these beautifully lit fountains, to find a bar-restaurant for our evening meal.

An educative but expensive journey

Decorated Wedding Car in Zambrów © Sybille Yates

We set out from Kraków on the morning of Friday 9^th October, to drive to the small town of Mikolajki in the far north-eastern corner of Poland, aiming to arrive there around lunchtime on Saturday 10^th. The centrepiece of our Polish adventure has been to spend a week, cruising the Masurian Lakes, on a hire boat from Marina Miko in Mikolajki. Handover of the boat was to be between 15.00 -18.00 on Saturday afternoon.

I was well aware that we would not accomplish the journey from Kraków to Mikolajki in a single day, which is why I had allowed nearly two days in our travel timetable. In retrospect, I’m very glad that I did. As it turned out, it could have very easily taken us a whole lot longer!

On Friday 9^th October, I made a number of significant discoveries, or I was reminded of things I really should have already known 😉 Firstly, driving out of any big city takes time – driving out of Kraków certainly did! Secondly, driving along ordinary Polish main roads, also takes time – lots of it! Whilst the motorway from the Czech-Polish border near Ostrava, to the outskirts of Kraków, had allowed for very speedy progress, route 79 from Kraków to Sandomierz, did not. Lots of small towns and villages with speed limits and plenty of relatively slow moving trucks.

Travelling that day, also really brought home to me, just how big Poland actually is. What looks like a short hop on the road atlas, in reality, takes far longer than anticipated.

When we did finally reach Sandomierz, we then headed for Lublin, finally crossing the Wisla/Vistula river, whose valley we had been following from Kraków. Unfortunately, a section of bypass around Lublin, which is shown as being ‘under construction’ in our road atlas, was still under construction. Thus we battled our way into and out of Lublin during the Friday afternoon rush hour. Progress northwards after that, was a little quicker.

Once it got dark, we decided to head for the next major centre and find somewhere to stay. So when we reached the outskirts of Siedlce, we made for the town centre and spotted a sign for a hotel. The receptionist spoke excellent English and the price for a pleasant double room for the night with breakfast, was very reasonable. As the hotel restaurant seemed all but empty, we instead found a much busier one nearby where we had a most enjoyable evening meal.

The next morning dawned cold, but fine and sunny. Being Saturday, there were relatively few trucks on the road so we made quite rapid progress northwards. After about two hours of driving, we reached the town of Zambrów and decided to take a short break. We parked in a small square opposite a flower shop where a wedding car was being decorated as you can see in the photograph above.

But when we got back into our car to continue our journey, disaster struck. The ‘Carly’ refused to start! It turned over perfectly, so there was clearly plenty of life in the battery. But the engine refused to fire. We tried rolling it down the road to bump start it, but still to no avail.

First we rang the number for the National Emergency Roadside Service as given in our Poland guidebook, but it didn’t work. So we then rang 112 and a most helpful operator who spoke English, gave us the phone number of a local Zambrów breakdown service. He of course, didn’t speak English but somehow Sybille conveyed to him over the phone, where we were and correctly understood him say in reply, that he would be with us shortly. Twenty minutes later, a breakdown truck arrived.

The breakdown truck driver had previously worked in Germany for a short while and therefore spoke some German which aided communication. He rang his mechanic friend to say that he would be bringing a Czech-registered right-hand drive Renault Scenic to him shortly, and then duly took the ‘Carly’ and both of us, to the mechanic’s workshop.Cost 150 zloty/960 Czech crowns.

After about an hour of trying various things, the mechanic and his son conveyed to us that the problem was with the immobilizer. It was an electronic problem rather than a mechanical one. Despite phone conversations with his electronics friend, the mechanic couldn’t fix it. We would have to wait until Monday. All this was conveyed without any of us having any language in common. The similarities between Czech and Polish were of considerable help in our somewhat interesting conversation.

We were able to explain where we were travelling to and why – pointing to the picture of our hire boat in a brochure helped. The mechanic called a taxi driver friend who quoted between 375-400 zloty/2555 Czech crowns to drive us the 125km from Zambrów to Mikolajki and cover the cost of his return journey. We bit the bullet!

Within twenty minutes, the taxi arrived and we then transferred all of our belongings out of the ‘Carly’, and into the taxi. The journey that followed might best be politely described as ‘interesting’. At times our taxi driver drove at speeds of up to 140kph on roads with a maximum speed limit of 90kph. At the end of the journey, Sybille declared that she was in serious need of a double Polish vodka!!!!! But we made it to the marina in Mikolajki arriving at 16.10, still all in one piece – just! – together with all our belongings.

Update – You can find out how we were eventually reunited with the ‘Carly’ here.

Kraków

Ever since moving to Prague just over seven years ago, Sybille and I have adopted the view that we should take full advantage of being based in Central Europe, to explore both the Czech Republic beyond Prague, together with neighbouring countries. So earlier this year, we decided that we would spend two weeks of my 2015 annual leave, visiting the Czech Republic’s immediate northern neighbour, Poland.

Whilst Sybille had made a previous brief visit to Poland in the early 1990s, my only experience of the country was through briefly walking over the border from Ceský Tešín with Sybille, in 2010, and when climbing Snežka in 2011. We also briefly drove into Poland when staying in the Orlické hory in 2013.

Our Polish odyssey began last Wednesday 7^th October, when we set out to drive from Prague to Kraków. Ironically, although Kraków lies north-east of Prague, the quickest way to get there was to drive south-east on the D1 motorway to the outskirts of Brno before then heading north-east, passing around Ostrava and over the border into Poland.

For the first time in our travels, we used airbnb to find appropriate accommodation. Using their website, Sybille found us a studio apartment within walking distance of the historic centre of Kraków which also had secure parking for the ‘Carly’. We spent two nights staying in the apartment and the intervening day exploring the city.

First we visited Rynek Glówny, the main market square, where the title photograph and the following three photographs were taken.

Whilst in the square, we witnessed the filming of part of a TV series featuring my namesake, Ricky Gervais, with a drone being used to take pictures, and several ‘heavies’ to keep the crowds at bay!

Exterior of the Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity © Ricky Yates

We also visited Churches belonging to two different Roman Catholic Orders – the Dominicans and the Franciscans. This is the Dominican Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Below is a photograph of part of the reredos within the Church, seeking to illustrate the Trinity, with God the Father portrayed as an old man with a long beard 🙂

Reredos depicting the Holy Trinity © Ricky Yates

Then it was on to the Wawel, the site of Kraków’s Cathedral and Royal Castle.

Directly opposite the Cathedral was this statue of the late Pope John Paul II. He was Archbishop of Kraków before becoming Pope.

Statue of Pope John Paul II © Ricky Yates

We spent the last part of our day in Kraków, exploring the Kamimierz district, the former Jewish quarter. This area is far less ‘spruced up’ than the other central parts of the city and remains a poignant reminder that around 65,000 Jews from the city of Kraków and the surrounding districts, were murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Contrasts between the Czech Republic and Poland

You would think that with Poland and the Czech Republic being next-door to each other, and with Polish and Czech both belonging to the West Slavic group of languages, the two countries and their respective populations, would have much in common. Surprisingly, they don’t! Whilst what follows is based on seven years of living in the Czech Republic, and only the past five days travelling through Poland, I hope it still has some validity 🙂

Some contrasts are indisputable. The area of Poland is four times greater than that of the Czech Republic. Driving across Poland these last few days has forcibly brought this home to me. It is a big country! Likewise, the population of Poland is nearly four times greater than that of the Czech Republic – 38.5 million against 10.5 million.

But even with the languages of two countries both being West Slavic, this does not bring about much commonality. Whilst an adult Czech can fairly easily understand an adult Slovak and vice versa, when both speak in their respective languages, the same does not apply to Czechs and Poles. I’ve been told this several times, by citizens of both countries. Interestingly, a Polish hotel receptionist told me a couple of days ago, that she and many other Poles, find it easier to understand a Slovak, rather than a Czech.

There are similarities between Czech and Polish – both have seven cases 🙁 , and some vocabulary is also identical, or only slightly different. For example ‘beer’, which in Czech is ‘pivo‘, in Polish it is ‘piwo‘. But there are also many significant differences and various false friends. Quite commonly, when a Czech and a Pole want to speak to each other, they will resort to using second language English!

One major area of contrast is with regard to the Christian faith. Whilst Roman Catholics are the majority Church in both countries, the level of adherence and practice is vastly higher in Poland than it is in the Czech Republic. In both countries under communism, the Christian Church suffered – Protestant and Roman Catholic alike. But whilst in Poland, it was the Roman Catholic Church that was at the forefront of opposition to totalitarianism, in the Czech Republic it was predominantly artists and writers.

Over the past twenty-five years, since the collapse of the communist regimes in both countries, considerable sums of money have been spent on restoring historic Churches. However, in the Czech Republic, this has mainly been done to preserve what is seen as the country’s cultural heritage, as well as to attract tourists. In Poland, whilst both these motives also apply, the main reason is to provide and enhance, well-used places of worship.

As we have driven through Poland these last few days, one thing that has frequently struck us, are the considerable number of large new Roman Catholic Churches we have seen. These clearly have all been built since 1989. You do not see this in the Czech Republic.

Post 1989, both countries rapidly embraced capitalism with state owned industries being privatised and Western European investment being actively encouraged. This has resulted in many Czech and Polish businesses coming under foreign ownership. In the Czech Republic, these are often German – Škoda is now owned by Volkswagen, and two major supermarket chains, Kaufland and Billa, are also German.

However in Poland, the French are the major player. We’ve seen large hypermarkets belonging to Auchan and Carrefour. And in the banking arena, Credit Agricole and BNP Parisbas appear to have a considerable market share, judging by the number of branches both have in Polish towns and cities.

One observation Sybille has made since we’ve been in Poland, is that there are far fewer dogs to be seen. In the Czech Republic, the commonly quoted statistic is that 40% of households have at least one dog. Judging by the number of dogs we meet when walking in Prague, each one of which Sybille likes to say ‘Hello’ to 🙂 , that could be an under estimate. We have seen, and Sybille has said ‘Hello’ to, several Polish dogs. But to many fewer than would be the case in the Czech Republic.

The only area where I have observed any similarities between Poles and Czechs, is in their fashion sense. As I wrote under point three of my most famous post, ‘How to be Czech in ten easy steps‘, one popular male look is having long hair and tying it back in a pony tail. Since writing this, I’ve been told that this was a way, post 1968, of showing your opposition to the communist regime. This may well explain why you can often see men in their fifties and sixties, sporting this look. The look is is also alive and well in Poland, presumably with similar origins.

Likewise, the habit of Czech ladies wearing either very short skirts or spray-on jeans, can also be frequently observed in Poland. But even here, there is a difference between the two countries. In the Czech Republic, many new grandmothers, dress little differently from their daughters, often competing with them as to who has the shorter hemline! Here in Poland, the difference between the generations is rarely blurred.

Quite honestly, there is very little love lost between Czechs and Poles. Sybille and I have chosen to take advantage of living in Central Europe, by currently spending a two week holiday, exploring Poland. But several Czechs have expressed considerable surprise that we should want to do so! Most Czechs do not visit Poland. Since passing through the border area just north of Ostrava, we haven’t seen a single Czech registered car!

English-language Anglican worship in the Frauenkirche, Dresden

The Frauenkirche in Dresden is an 18^th century Protestant Church featuring a 96m high dome resting on eight slender pillars. It was severely damaged during allied bombing raids on the city on 13^th February 1945 and collapsed two days later. Because, following the end of World War Two, Dresden was situated in the Soviet zone of occupation which became the satellite communist state of East Germany, no efforts were made by the authorities to rebuild the Church. Instead, in 1966, the ruins were declared a ‘memorial against war’.

Following the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany, quite appropriately 25 years ago today 🙂 , a society was formed to promote the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche and to raise funds to finance the project. Reconstruction commenced at the beginning of 1993 and was completed in 2005. The tenth anniversary of the consecration of the rebuilt Church will be celebrated at the end of this month on 30^th October.

From the outset of the rebuilding project, very strong links have been established between the Frauenkirche and Coventry Cathedral, through the Community of the Cross of Nails. Their shared experience of the devastation caused by bombing during the Second World War, means that they both are involved in the work of reconciliation and the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation is used regularly at the Frauenkirche.

Since soon after the consecration of the rebuilt Frauenkirche, once a month, on a Sunday evening, an English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer has been held. This has been under the auspices of the Berlin Anglican Chaplaincy, in particular the Assistant Chaplain, Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens. She doesn’t always officiate as sometimes there are guest Anglican clergy from England, invited to take the service and preach. But she has overall responsibility to ensure things run smoothly!

Interior of the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

Earlier this year, Irene contacted me, asking if I would be willing to take on her role from the beginning of 2016. She only works in a voluntary capacity; she is now 75 years old and her husband has had serious health issues in recent months. So during the week that Lea Williams was with me on placement back in early July, we spent the day in Dresden, meeting both Protestant Pastors, Holger Treutmann and Sebastian Feydt, together with their administrator Monika Schneider.

During our visit, we were given our own private tour of the amazing Church building, including parts that the average tourist or worshipper, never gets to see. We also spent time in their administrative offices just round the corner from the Church, discussing what normally happens each month at the Anglican service and enabling me to ask certain pertinent questions as to what to expect. All three were most pleased to discover my Coventry connections, being born and educated in the city.

Following further email exchanges and phone conversations, including one phone call when I was sitting in my hospital bed, it was agreed I would officiate at the service on the evening of Sunday 20^th September. The original plan was for Irene to be there with me, to guide me as what to expect and show how things are normally done. Unfortunately, her husband’s continued ill health meant she was unable to attend.

Decorated ceiling of the dome of the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

On Sunday 20^th, after both attending the Czech Protestant service, (to make a presentation to Pastor Eva who was retiring), and celebrating the Eucharist with the Prague Anglican congregation, I set out for Dresden by train, as my car was out of action having a new clutch installed & two new sections of exhaust fitted. Unfortunately, the train arrived late from Budapest and left Prague fifteen minutes later than it was meant to do so. It was then held up for a further twenty minutes just over the German border, by a broken-down train ahead of us. Thus I had a bit of a rush to get from Dresden Hauptbahnhof to the Frauenkirche.

Yours truly in the Frauenkirche following the service © Ricky Yates

Upon arrival at 17.30, feeling somewhat flustered by my delayed train journey, I was made welcome by a verger, who took me to the vestry where Pfarrer Sebastian Feydt and Monika Schneider were waiting for me, together with the organist, Daniel Clark. Having talked me through what was expected, they all went off to sit in the congregation, except for the organist who disappeared to the organ loft.

There was a congregation of around one hundred. As I discovered as I shook hands with people at the door following the service, they were a mixture of regular attending English-speakers, Germans with varying amounts of English – several wished me ‘Schönes abend’ as they left, together with English-speaking tourists from around the world. With Pfarrer Sebastian Feydt in the congregation, I did feel a little as though I was ‘preaching with a view’, as happens in some Protestant denominations. But he was very positive following the service and seems very pleased about me taking on the role of overseeing the English-language Anglican service.

Having successfully officiated in September, I’m next due in Dresden in December when the service will be one of Lessons and Carols. It will be Irene’s farewell service and our Diocesan Bishop Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes will also be present. Then from January, it will be over to me!

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get to lead worship and preach in the Dresden Frauenkirche, yet alone on a regular basis. Maybe I need to change the title of this blog to ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague and Dresden 🙂

The Frauenkirche looking across the River Elbe © Ricky Yates