March? What?

I don't know how it's already March, but it just is and I have to deal with it. This week was good just hangin out in Madrid, nothing too fancy. And I had my last dentist appointment which was really nice. Juana taught us how to make Bizcocho on Thursday, which is basically cake except better because you don't need frosting and it's not too sweet so you don't feel like an enormous pig after eating it.

 

I won't even say what the inside looked like.

Friday, woke up and headed to Madrid to see the famous "Gran Via" road and El Templo De Debod. Gran Via street is my absolute favorite in all of Madrid because every single building is beautiful. I've never seen that many gorgeous buildings in my life, let alone all on the SAME STREET. It was wonderful. Seriously, here's the McDonalds---------------->>

At the end of this street is a cool Egyptian site on top of a hill called "El Templo De Debod". We took a few pictures and saw it was closed, so headed to a nearby park. Doesn't matter what city or country you are in, playgrounds are ALWAYS fun. And luckily we spent some time there because on our way back the temple had opened and we got to see some cool artifacts!

Yo, con el Templo

Whitney just drivin Janeen around.

El Templo De Debod

just barely fit. like a boss. 

Saturday we started our day trip with El Escorial. It's a really famous Spanish historical site where a ton of Spanish royalty are buried, and has an amazing library with ceiling frescos painted by Tibaldi. There was so much to see in this place, but unfortunately we were only allowed to take pictures outside. Luckily the outside looked amazing and had really cool gardens.

Even saw some cisnes! [swans]

 After this we headed up to Valle de los Caidos{Valley of the Fallen}. Technically they don't allow tourists to go up and visit because it's a place meant solely for prayer, but we somehow got in. Franco had it made to honor those who died during the Spanish Civil War, 40,000 of their remains are buried beneath the valley. This place was so picturesque but so eerie and sacred at the same time. I couldn't believe it, by far one of my favorite places we've visited yet.

Our last stop was Manzanares el Real, which is this super cool looking castle. Turns out it's a complete reconstruction, but a cool castle nonetheless! And we got to just wander around it and act like crazy fools the entire time, which was a plus.

And I'm super bummed I'm missing my cousin Courtney's wedding this weekend since I could have attended it now that I finally live in Utah! But it will be alright because..well a somewhat last minute opportunity came up ...and I'm leaving to go to Lisbon, Portugal for the week. Beach. 70+ degree weather. How in the world did I get so lucky. It's unreal.