Madrid.

This Thanksgiving, in order to avoid homesickness at all possible costs, I decided to take a vacation from my vacation, and head to Madrid, Spain for the long weekend. And I LOVED IT! It was warm(er) and sunny, the people were loud and friendly, we ate chocolate con churros every morning for breakfast, and with my dark hair, skin, and eyes…I fit right in! It was fabulous.

Day 1 consisted of a trip to Toledo—the most adorable little Spanish town I’ve ever seen. We stopped in the Lladro store first, where we discovered that they offer a 25% discount to Mormons (thank you missionaries), and then it was off to the Cathedral of Toledo, which was honestly the most incredible cathedral that I have ever seen. And I can say that, because I have seen A LOT of cathedrals. Sadly, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside (just like everywhere else in that country), but I may have snuck one or two from my pocket.

Next we happened to stumble upon the jewelry makers of the town, so we sat and watched that for a while, and then it was on to the sword maker’s shop, where we got a tour from a nice Spanish man who was missing a number of fingers.

Next we toured a synagogue, which at this point I have also seen way too many of, and then we had lunch at McDonald’s…where I successfully managed to order a number 7 sin salsa in Español. My papa would have been proud.

Then it was back to Madrid and on to the Prado, which is basically the Louvre of Spain and was filled to the brim with some of my favorite works. Sadly, no pictures in there either, so I bought lots of postcards from the gift shop instead. Then we found a restaurant out of our guidebook and tracked it down for our Thanksgiving feast. The food was decent, but the portions were tiny, and our waiter hated us for not ordering any alcohol, so it was slightly disappointing. So where did we go after for dessert? McDonald’s of course. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Day 2 consisted of a tour of the Royal Palace of Madrid

Lunch at Mercado de San Miguel, my favorite food market ever

Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor

And a quick stop at the Real Madrid football stadium.

Day 3 we only had a few hours before we had to leave to the airport for our flight back to London, so we decided to make a quick trip to the temple first thing in the morning, which was beautiful and I loved. I’m so grateful we made the time to go see it.

And then a quick visit to the Reina Sofia, which houses one of Picasso’s most famous works, Guernica, which was awesome to see, even if it only was for a second.

And then we were on our way back to London. I had such an incredible Thanksgiving and the only other place I could have wished to be was at home eating my mama’s chocolate pie. But I’d have to say that this was a pretty decent replacement. Happy Thanksgiving!