day trip #2

our first day trip was to segovia, our first week... and all of our trips since then have involved us staying at a hotel somewhere. today, we went to some of the places around madrid that aren't too far but still interesting and historical to visit.

el escorial: was built in the 16th century. it's a giant palace/monastery complex (another one of those) that was really interesting and cool. it really kind of bugs me that we can't take pictures inside of these places. but i did sneak one in the library because i couldn't help it. it's a little blurry but that's okay. the ceiling in the library was fabulous... and of course, the books were amazzzzing as well.

valle de los caidos or the "valley of the fallen": fransisco franco, the most loved/hated man in all of spain, built this memorial to the men who died in spain's civil war. it's one of the largest basilicas in the world: carved out of the middle of a mountain, with a huge huge cross coming out of it. it was built by franco's prisoners of war, many of whom died in the process... which makes it all the more poignant and impressive to visit. franco is actually buried here as well. it's now a law that you can't have large pro-franco gatherings here any more, like there used to be (somebody told me).

going into the basilica was creepy... there were statues of "angels" on the walls that looked like ringwraiths from LOTR and it was all dark inside and franco's presence kind of dominated. it was strange to even compare it to our temple, La Casa Del Senor, where we got to visit on thursday and do baptisms, which is so opposite.

i also got to see my dear friend rique there... she got to join our group and then we explored madrid together. (she has the pictures of us.. i will be getting them soon!) it was great to see her and take a break from studying abroad, if that makes any sense. she informed me that there are now, what, 94 days until school starts up again in september. so we need to live up the rest of the summer!