Dresden – Page 3

Advent 2016

Advent ring with the first candle lit © Ricky Yates

This year, the season of Advent has been as long as it possibly can be – a full four weeks. In 2017, quite the reverse happens with the Fourth and final Sunday of Advent, also being Christmas Eve!

I have very much appreciated the length of the Advent season this year, for a number of reasons. One slightly selfish reason is the cause of Advent lasting fully four weeks – the result of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, which is every clergyperson’s delight! No need for services on three successive days, or on three out of four days. Instead, a full week beforehand, to prepare for services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then an uninterrupted week afterwards, to take as a post-Christmas break 🙂

I also very much appreciated the way the Sundays fell in Advent this year, allowing me to hold a Service of Lessons and Carols in Dresden, Brno and Prague on separate Sundays. Last year, the Brno and Dresden services had to be held on the same Sunday evening.

As happens each year, I arrived at Church in Prague on Advent Sunday morning, to be greeted by a beautiful hanging Advent ring, with the first candle already lit. This is one of the joys of borrowing the Church building from our host Kliment congregation of the Ceskobratská Církev Evangelická / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren – the main Czech Protestant Church. They provide the Advent ring at no cost to us! All we have to do is ensure we snuff out the candle(s) at the end of our service, as part of our duty of leaving the building safe and secure.

In previous years, the candles have always been red. This year, for no apparent reason of which I am aware, the candles are white. Certainly they seem to be of a better quality as, over the four Sundays of Advent, none of them has burnt down so much as to need being replaced, despite one of them being alight for nine services 🙂

The Order of Service for Sunday 4th December at 6pm

On the evening of Sunday 4^th December, the second in Advent, I conducted the December English-language Anglican Service in the Frauenkirche, Dresden – A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas. At the equivalent service last year, I was introduced as the new service coordinator and read one of the lessons. This year, I had to organise the complete service, including finding several different readers.

I fortunately inherited the tradition of a Berlin-based choir, the Embassy Singers, under their musical director Andrew Sims, singing at this service. They sang five choir items as well as supporting the congregational carols. A number of choir members volunteered to read and I took Lay Reader Jack Noonan along with me to also be one of the lesson readers.

The Embassy Singers together with Jack Noonan © Jack Noonan

Here he is, posing with the choir whilst I was shaking hands with the departing congregation who I suspect numbered about two hundred.

The Brno congregation in ‘The Upper Room’ following Lessons and Carols © Ricky Yates

On the evening of Sunday 11^th December, I conducted a Service of Lessons and Carols in Brno, marking the fifth anniversary of our first ever Brno service held on 18^th December 2011. Despite getting the service well publicised we were only a little congregation of sixteen people but we still made a joyful noise with our carol singing. Most importantly, all those who attended expressed their enjoyment of the service.

On Sunday 18^th December, I didn’t travel anywhere further than within Prague itself. It was the one Sunday in the year when we hold two services, our regular 11.00 Sung Eucharist in the morning and a Service of Lessons and Carols in the evening. For both services we were blessed by having a visiting choir of Old Blundellians – former students of Blundells School, Tiverton, Devon UK, under their recently retired music master Andrew Barlow.

In the morning, they sang a setting of Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, written by Andrew Barlow, together with an Introit, and two anthems during the administration of Communion. In the evening, they sang five choir carols as well as supporting the congregational ones. I particularly enjoyed their final choir carol – ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, to a setting by Harold Darke.

Along with wonderful congregational singing and choral music, probably the most encouraging aspect of Advent 2016, has been the number of people attending worship in Prague on each Sunday morning. This has ranged from 73 to over 80 when our normal average Sunday attendance is around 50 – basically a 50% increase! Unfortunately, I’ve no photographs to illustrate our Advent worship at St Clement’s, Prague, so instead I finish with a photograph of one of several magnificent sunsets that we had during the early days of December.

Sunset over the Vltava River and Prague Castle © Ricky Yates

A view across Dresden

The Frauenkirche from the Augustusbrücke © Ricky Yates

On the evening of Sunday 21^st August, I once again officiated at the monthly English-language Anglican Service of Evening Prayer, hosted by the Frauenkirche, Dresden. But additionally, I was invited to attend a Sommerfest the following evening, being laid on as a ‘Thank you’, to everyone who helps at the Frauenkirche throughout the year, both volunteers and paid staff.

So instead of returning to Prague on the Monday morning as I normally do, I stayed on for a further day and night, in order to enjoy the Sommerfest. This in turn meant that I had several hours during the day on Monday 22^nd August, to occupy myself. As the weather was fine, I decided to climb the Frauenkirche dome, in order to reach the viewing platform, 67.06 metres above ground level, to enjoy spectacular views across Dresden.

This is the view westwards with the River Elbe flowing away to eventually reach the North Sea at Hamburg.

Whilst this is view looking eastwards, with the River Elbe flowing towards the centre of Dresden, having originally risen in the Krkonoše mountains in the far north of the Czech Republic.

In between, is the Augustusbrücke, which links the Altstadt, where the Frauenkirche is situated, with the Neustadt.

This is the Neustadt, which can be seen in greater detail than with the naked eye, courtesy of the zoom function on my camera 🙂 , with the towering spire of the Dreikönigskirche in the centre of the photograph. Hotel Martha, where I stay overnight in Dresden, is just to the left of the Dreikönigskirche.

The view to the south-east © Ricky Yates

The views are not always perfect. South-east from the Altstadt are this series of tower blocks which mainly date from the communist era.

Neumarkt, with construction work continuing © Ricky Yates

And here on one side of Neumarkt, the large square on the southern side of the Frauenkirche, reconstruction work following the devastation of the city in February 1945, is still continuing.

Alles in Ordnung :D © Ricky Yates — Alles in Ordnung 😀 © Ricky Yates

It is fascinating, some of the quirky things you can sometimes see from a vantage point such as this. I loved the way all these bicycles had been dutifully parked in neat rows. Very much, Alles in Ordnung 😀

When either ascending or descending the dome, you also get some amazing views of the Church interior. Here you can right down into the Hauptraum – the main worship space.

In the evening, I caught tram 11 out to Sommerwirtschaft Saloppe, the venue of the Sommerfest. It is an outdoor terrace with seating, and of course, a bar 😀 , situated in an attractive wooded area alongside the Elbe. Here we were treated to ein sommerliches GrillBuffet, together with a variety of drinks. It was wonderful to spend a little more time with some of the Frauenkirche people I already know, as well as to meet new people. It was also inevitably an evening for improving my limited German too 🙂

Frauenkirchenpfarrer Sebastian Feydt welcoming everybody to the Sommerfest © Ricky Yates

My chocolate dessert and appropriate liquid refreshment © Ricky Yates

Last Sunday evening in Dresden

The River Elbe with the Frauenkirche beyond © Ricky Yates — The River Elbe in Dresden with the Frauenkirche beyond © Ricky Yates

Last Sunday evening, one week later than usual, I officiated at the English-language Anglican Service of Evening Prayer, hosted by the Frauenkirche in Dresden. At the beginning of the service, I welcomed all those attending, explained who I am, and then made three announcements.

The first was to apologise that, once more, my troublesome front crown, having managed to stay in place for the three previous months, had again become loose and then fallen out on Sunday morning. Besides making me look goofy, this also meant that speaking publicly was difficult as numerous speech sounds are made by putting your tongue to your front teeth and it is therefore somewhat difficult to be articulate, if there is a big gap 🙁

Secondly, I thanked everyone for attending, being very aware that the service had coincided with a rather important football match 🙂 Germany were playing Slovakia in the last sixteen of the Euro 2016 football competition, the match kicking off at exactly the same time as our service began.

But thirdly I said, I just wanted to clearly declare that, ‘Last Thursday, I voted to remain!’ The congregation of native English-speakers from around the world, together with English-speaking Germans, erupted in sympathetic laughter the like of which I’ve never experienced previously when officiating at the Frauenkirche.

I was originally going to write about the theme of the service and how I tackled it in my sermon, which had very clear resonances with the referendum result. But instead, in order to get this post published tonight and to keep it reasonably short in length, I just want to tell you of a conversation I had following the service, which encapsulates one very unpleasant aspect of the recent referendum campaign.

As I explained in a previous post, following worship, a small number of the regular Dresden congregation, gather for a drink in a nearby Bierstube, the Augustiner an der Frauenkirche. It being warm and dry, we were able to sit outside, enjoying the evening air and hearing a loud cheer from a nearby establishment, when Germany scored a third goal part-way through the second half of their match.

We were joined for the first time by an Anglophile German couple – Stephan and Kornelia. Stephan explained to me that he was a GP and had undertaken some of his medical studies in the UK, including his GP training, and had then worked as a GP for a few years in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, before returning to Germany. He added that one of the reasons they had started attending the monthly English-language service was to ensure they didn’t lose their English!

But they then told me how their daughter had just finished her studies at Gymnasium, and had arranged to have gap year, before going to university. She had been accepted to work for a UK charity based in London, starting in July, providing respite care for the parents of handicapped children.

Hearing the outcome of the referendum on Friday morning, she had expressed to them her fear, that she might not now be able to do this. And even if she did, she was concerned as to how she would be perceived and received in current British society.

The ‘Leave campaign’ has released a very unpleasant current of xenophobia and racism meaning that a German young lady who wants to give something very positive to British society, is now left feeing very uncomfortable and wondering whether her chosen path was wise. Messrs Johnson, Gove and Farage – you have an awful lot to answer for!

A Question of Identity

A Brno numbskull who doesn't need a passport © Ricky Yates — A Brno numbskull who doesn’t need a passport © Ricky Yates

In early December this year, my current British passport will expire. As the United Kingdom does not issue identity cards to its citizens, my passport is the only accepted form of ID that I have whilst living in continental Europe. In 2016, I will be travelling to the UK twice, as well as to Poland for the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod, not forgetting my now monthly trips to Dresden. All of this is before thinking about where Sybille and I might want to go on holiday together!

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website states that I must allow four weeks from my application and supporting documentation, including my current passport, arriving at the Passport Office in the UK, before I can expect to receive my new passport. During that time, I will be unable to travel anywhere beyond the borders of the Czech Republic. As a consequence, these past few days I have been studying my diary, trying to work out when on earth there is a time-slot of at least four weeks, when I will not need to travel.

Recently, several people have said to me, ‘Surely you don’t need your passport just to travel to Dresden and back on the train?’ For them, and for any one else thinking along these lines, I will recount my rather ‘interesting’ experiences when travelling back to Prague today, having led and preached at the English-language Anglican Evening Prayer service at the Frauenkirche, Dresden, yesterday evening.

Having boarded my train at Dresden Hauptbahnhof, I found myself a seat in a compartment where the only other passenger was a young lady of Asian appearance. Soon after the train set off, two burly German Polizei walked along the corridor and outside our compartment, stopped two young German men walking in the opposite direction, and asked to see and check their respective IDs. Having done this, rather than walking on down the train as I expected, they instead entered our compartment and asked to see our passports.

I duly produced mine which was then subjected to a thorough examination. Herr Polizei held it up to the light to check for watermarks and the like. I think he was also a little dubious because, being nearly ten years old, it isn’t biometric. Noticing the stamp of the Czech Foreign Police granting me ‘Temporary residence’ that is ‘neomezený/unlimited’, he asked, in English, if I lived in Prague. I gave him quite a shock when I spoke back to him in German 🙂 My passport was returned to me 🙂

However, the young lady got a complete grilling. It didn’t help her cause that she appeared to neither speak German or English – or if she did, she was too shy to do so. And if I dare say so – because she wasn’t white Caucasian 🙁 Both Polizei didn’t think her passport photo looked like her. They insisted she took off the large scarf around her neck so they could compare her skin colour with that in the photograph. The also studiously studied the visa in her passport, (presumably a Schengen one), querying its validity.

There followed a phone call to headquarters, checking her details, with the whole business lasting around fifteen minutes, before she was finally given the all clear and her passport was returned. One funny side effect of all this was that neither of us ever got our tickets checked. The female ticket inspector came past twice, but because of the police presence, she left us in peace!

When the train arrived at the Czech border town of Decín, a tall blonde Czech young lady joined us in the compartment. Decín is also where the Deutsche Bahn train staff get off and are replaced by those of Ceské dráhy. Presumably both Polizei officers got off too.

However, shortly after the train left Decín, who should come along the corridor and open the compartment door – two Czech Policie! The Czech young lady flashed her Czech ID card out of her purse at the same time as flashing her mascaraed eyelids, and she was immediately told that all was fine 😉 The inspection of my passport and Czech residency document took a little longer but no query was raised. But the poor Asian young lady had her passport looked at, photograph and actual likeness compared, visa examined. It wasn’t quite the third degree of the German Polizei, but still lasted at least three minutes.

Therefore after today’s journey, I have no intention whatsoever, of travelling to Dresden and back, without a passport. The mind boggles what would have happened if I’d tried to do so today.

But not only do I have to find a minimum four week time slot when I can be without a passport, I also have to make a deep hole in my bank account to pay for the new one. A ten-year British passport now costs £83.00, together with a further £19.86 in courier delivery charges – £102.86 in total. And I have find a safe way, no doubt also expensive, of getting my application and associated documentation to the Passport Office in the UK to start the process 🙁

And to answer those who have said, ‘Can’t you get a temporary passport whilst your new one is being issued?’ Yes – it is possible to get an ‘Emergency Travel Document’, but – costing another £95.00!!!!

A snowy Sunday and Monday in Prague and Dresden

On Sunday 17^th January 2016, I conducted worship in two different countries, something I shall now be doing quite regularly in 2016 on the third Sunday of each month. At 11.00, I celebrated the Eucharist and preached at St Clement’s Anglican Church in Prague. Then at 18.00, I led a service of Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden.

St Clement's Church, Prague in the snow © Ricky Yates — St Clement’s Church, Prague in the snow © Ricky Yates

Over the weekend, we had a further serious snowfall, so this was the scene that greeted me as I arrived outside St. Clement’s, waiting for our host Czech Protestant congregation to finish their service. It was still snowing when I took the photograph.

From the second week in January, through to around the second or third week of March, Prague enters what I always refer to as the ‘non-tourist season’. It is the time when you can walk around some of the popular historic sights in Prague, without being run over by hordes of visiting tourists. However, tourists are a great boon to us as a Church as, on most Sundays, the congregation is boosted numerically by visitors. Some of them also contribute quite generously to the collection. But for the second Sunday running, we had no visitors at all in the congregation – I knew everybody by name. Clearly we are in the ‘non-tourist season’!

We were therefore, a slightly smaller congregation than usual, with the weather and winter ailments, preventing some people from attending. But nearly all those who did come were very un-Anglican – they sat together in the front pews! Being regulars, they knew where the limited under-pew heating is most effective 🙂

After warming up at Coffee Hour and enjoying post-service refreshments in the hall across the street in Klimentska 18, I then headed off on a short three-stop tram journey to Praha hlavní nádraží (Praha hl.n.) – Prague main railway station, in the company of my friend and ministerial colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz. I had invited Karen to be the preacher at the January English-language Anglican Evening Prayer service in the Frauenkirche, in advance of her leaving Prague in the next few months.

Upon arrival at Praha hl.n., I immediately checked the departures board, to see whether the platform number for our train to Dresden Haupbahnhof (Dresden Hbf), was displayed. Unfortunately there was no platform number but instead, a note that departure would be delayed by thirty minutes. The train was coming from Budapest and presumably had experienced problems with the adverse weather conditions en-route.

Sitting on the station concourse, constantly scanning the departures board, I increasingly began to panic that we wouldn’t make it to the Frauenkirche on time. Finally, we were summoned to platform six, and the train that was meant to set out at 14.27, departed just after 15.00. Fortunately, there were no further delays between Praha hl.n. and Dresden Hbf. Instead, we actually made up nearly ten minutes of the delay. Following a three-stop tram journey and then a five minute walk, we safely arrived at the Frauenkirche, just after 17.30.

I knew from reading the Frauenkirche website, that between Monday 11th – Saturday 16 January, the Church had been completely shut down, to allow a variety of repair and maintenance tasks to be carried out, as well as a very thorough cleaning of the interior. Apparently, this happens every year, during a quiet week in January. Having been admitted by the verger, I immediately smelt the wood stain with which the wooden floor under pews, had been treated. Sitting on the dais for the service, I noticed how bright and sparkling the rededos was, behind the altar 🙂

I had been told back in July, that numbers attending the Anglican service in winter, could be quite low, around 35-40, for exactly the same reason as in Prague – it being the ‘non-tourist season’! But when I did a rough head count, during a musical interlude within the service, I arrived at a total of just over sixty. They looked somewhat scattered, but then the main body of the Church will seat in excess of three hundred people. It made me realise that my figure of around one hundred attending the service last September, may well have been an underestimate.

With Rev'd Dr Karen Moritz in the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates — With Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz in the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

I have to say that I felt a lot less nervous leading the service last Sunday evening, than I did on my first outing last September. I really felt I had begun to build a bit of a rapport with some of the regular attendees. It was also a pleasure to hear Karen preach as she spoke about ‘The Foolishness of the Cross’, based on the Biblical text from 1 Corinthians 1. 18-31. We posed for this picture, under the pulpit, following the end of the service.

With members of the congregation in the neighbouring Bierstube © Gary Hohenstein — With Karen Moritz and members of the congregation in the neighbouring Bierstube © Gary Hohenstein

After getting dis-robed, Karen and I accepted an invitation to join a few of the congregation for a drink in a nearby Bierstube, the Augustiner an der Frauenkirche I ordered ein großes Bier, assuming I would get a 0.5l glass, in contrast to ein kleines Bier, a 0.3l glass. Much to everyone’s amusement, what arrived was ein sehr großes Bier, a one litre glass 😀 Evidence in this photograph.

The Lutheran Parish Church of St John, Bad Schandau © Ricky Yates

After staying overnight in Hotel Martha, I had hoped to get some photographs of snowy Dresden in daylight, especially as the sky cleared and the sun came out as we were finishing our breakfast. But catching the correct trams to get back to Dresden Hbf in time for our train back to Prague, took greater priority. However, we were treated to some spectacular views on our train journey home, which I was able to capture.

Soon after leaving Dresden, the railway line follows the valley of the River Elbe as it cuts through an area of sandstone mountains known as the Sächsische Schweiz – Saxon Switzerland. The mountains form the natural border between Germany and the Czech Republic. On the Czech side, the mountains are known as the Ceské Švýcarsko – Czech or Bohemian Switzerland. The name for the area was created by two Swiss artists, appointed to the Dresden Academy of Art in the second half of the eighteenth century. They believed the area to be very similar to their homeland in the Jura region of Switzerland.

Just after passing through the spa town of Bad Schandau, the train came to an unscheduled halt, which allowed me to get this photograph of the Lutheran Parish Church of St John, Bad Schandau.

When we did continue, once a long freight train had passed by in the other direction, we moved very slowly onto the other track, to pass a broken down freight train blocking our track. This is what enabled me to take the following three photographs. Whilst this caused us to be fifteen minutes late getting back to Prague, on this occasion, I wasn’t complaining 🙂

Snow-covered field by the River Elbe © Ricky Yates — Snow-covered fields by the River Elbe © Ricky Yates

Sächsische Schweiz and the River Elbe © Ricky Yates

Seeing this area, covered with snow and glistening in sun, has made me add Sächsische Schweiz and Ceské Švýcarsko to my ever-lengthening bucket list of places I would like to visit and explore.