From across the globe, we arrived! I shared a taxi from the airport with fellow Unitarians, arriving after a very early start at the charming Residence Bologna. After the chaos of checking in, we had a brief rest there, before walking a short distance to the Unitarian Church. A modern church reached down a short flight of steps, it has the intriguing Czech Unitarian symbol of two sunflowers of different heights growing towards the sun – symbolising how all of us, different as we are, are equally valuable in our search for spiritual community. Some had arrived earlier, others had just arrived there, but together we gathered, prayed, and greeted each other. We also familiarised ourselves with our hosts’ excellent coffee and tea facilities.

We began with opening worship, and the memorable quote: “What a joy it is to be together, and make this holy noise!” There was much hugging and helloing. In our opening session, we agreed: “We are here because we care about facing at least part of our future together.” The organisers commented, “Our slightly crazy idea from 2022 has come true!” This would be our space for meeting and working together, and there were many thank-yous for everyone’s hard work across many timezones! We acknowledged the language barriers and inherent inequalities, and the difficulties of making this fair, and agreed that a ground rule would be that: “when you sit at a table, make sure there are 3-4 people you don’t know there.”

We then walked over to the canteen of the Czech National Theatre, ate dinner, then had the chance for a short evening walk around Prague (or just an early night). I took the chance for an evening ramble, and a swift half of the local dark lager in a nearby pub, before retiring for the night.