Drenched in Terrassa

Date: 21st October

Destination: Terrassa

Reason: Florentine reunion; Worship Concert
Company: Indigo and Ingrid

Early last week my friend Kelly wrote to me and told me that she was going to be in Barcelona this weekend. Kelly is one of my friends from the church I went to during my term abroad in Florence and, along with a group of friends, she was coming to Barcelona on a cruise organised by Missione Rem, a Christian network in Italy. She told me that on Sunday they were all going to a church in nearby Terrassa for a worship concert, and if I was free I'd be welcome to come along and bring friends with me. I was up for this, so I recruited Indi and Ingrid - two of my lovely friends from GBU - and on Sunday evening we got the train together to Terrassa.

Surrounded by mountains and the sea, Barcelona tends to be warmer than the cities around. The second we got off the train you could feel the difference in temperature: Terrassa was cold. Using our phones for navigation, we began the 1km walk from Terrassa train station to the church. As we started walking the heavens opened and we were welcomed by terrential rain, thunder and lightning. As we walked up the streets that had quickly turned into rivers, I began to regret not bringing a coat or an umbrella. Indi had bought a coat with her, and Ingrid an umbrella, so they were slightly more presentable than I was when we arrived. I arrived drenched and dripping wet, looking like I'd had a shower in my clothes. Somebody rushed off to find us t-shirts or a change of clothes, and minutes later I was presented with a beautiful, dry, limey-yellow T-shirt, with a Catalan bible verse in brown print.

Vius o Sobrevius? "
Jo he vingut perquè tinguin vida i la tinguin en abundància". Joan 10:10

Are you living or surviving? 
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full". John 10:10

It was lovely to see my friends again and to hear how they'd been since I left Florence in August. The worship concert was cool as well, and was held in a mix of Catalan, Spanish and Italian, with simultaneous translation into or out of Italian so that everyone could understand!

Indi, Ingrid and I had been organised enough to look up transport for our return to Barcelona beforehand. The last train was at 2315, so we decided to get the hourly nitbus (nightbus) to get back to Barcelona. We had planned on getting the 0035 bus which arrives at Plaça Catalunya at 2am so we left the concert early, leaving plenty of time to call a taxi to take us to the bus station. The taxi didn't come, everyone left, and as the pastor was locking up the church about an hour later he asked us if we were ok. He kindly offered us a lift to the bus station, but we ended up missing the bus by a couple of minutes. With an hour's wait until the next bus,we went to a nearby bar for a xocolata desfeta! 

Indi, Me and Ingrid
Midnight Xocolata Desfeta!

Xocolata desfeta literally means "melted chocolate", and although unfortunately it isn't melted chocolate, I have to say this amazing dense chocolate gloop was the next best thing and definitely did it's job in warming us up!

The following day I joined my friends again - for lunch and for some tourism - and then we said our goodbyes at the port... 

Cari amici di Firenze: 

Buon Viaggio!

Mi è piaciuto tanto potervi rivedere, 

soprattutto qua a Barcellona! 

Spero che il resto della crociera 

vi sia andato benissimo! 

Migliori auguri a tutti,

A presto!

:-)

Sagrada Família with my friends from Florence!