Madrid Day 4! McDonald's > clubbing

Yet another day trip today! Today we first headed to Valle de los Caidos which is a monument that was created by Franco, a fascist Spanish dictator. This monument, and the church that we also visited, were built with slave labor, and we talked at length about fascism and the effects it had on Spain. It was interesting to learn about Franco and how some people in Spain still think that he "saved" them despite the horrifying things that he did. His body used to be kept in this church but it was moved not so long ago due to public protest about the revering of such an awful man. There was something very oppressive about the church. There were no windows, and there were these giant creepy statues guarding the altar. They looked like dementors from Harry Potter, so obviously not a good vibe. They also had a live singer while we were there which I thought was interesting. Pictures weren't allowed inside the church, but I have some of the monument.

After that we headed to the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which was like a monastery and palace all in one. It was super big and every time we thought there must not be any more to see, we discovered another room! There was a royal library, chapel, a royal crypt, exhibits of rooms that were used day to day, and some art exhibits. The most interesting part to me was actually the royal crypt which also had kind of ominous vibes. There was a really sad part of the crypt where they buried all of the royal children that passed away. There was also a beautiful garden/courtyard outside that I spent some time in just lounging in the sun on the ledge overlooking the view. Theresa took some candid pics of me because she's the cutest haha.

We bussed back to Madrid, and Audrey, Marie, and I were starved so we went to this place called Tiki Tacos which is a chain taco place but it was actually sooo good. I got an al pastor taco, suadero taco, and then a cochinita quesadilla and it was like 5 euros and so delicious. The quesadilla was actually my favorite part, it was crispy and cheesy and the meat and onion were yum. We did have a good laugh because they asked for our names and it was really loud so they couldn't hear very well, so our new names are now Bibi, Lili, and Oudri. I think they fit us!

A sweet treat is obviously needed after dinner, so of course we hit up our new love - Gioelia. I got chocolate and coconut this time and it was FIRE. This place does not miss.

Feeling completely satisfied, we headed back to the hotel and got all ready for bed. I was tucked up in my covers when I got a text from Molly that they had decided to go out, which we had been trying to do all week. At first I said no because I was showered, face washed, teeth brushed, PJs on, but then the FOMO got to me so Audrey and I got ready and headed down to join the getting dressed party. By the end of it, not one person wasn't wearing Ellie's clothes haha. She's the best. We headed out of the hotel and made our way to a karaoke bar only to find out that they only did private rooms and it would cost us over 300 euros - no thank you! So then we went to try and find a dancing club. We found one, and it was only 10 euros to get in, but by that point some of us weren't sure that we really wanted to go dancing haha. So me, Ellie, Annie, and McKinley went in search of a McDonald's! Of course we found one and devoured some burgers and fries and cokes.

Then we decided that we needed to take some cute pictures because we looked amazing, so we found the street with all of the bougie stores that we'll come back to when we have rich husbands! McKinley has a really nice camera so the pictures turned out so so so so good and they are some of my favorite pictures of one of my favorite nights. We had so much fun just hanging out and (safely!!!) wandering the streets of Madrid. I love this city and these girls!