My Quintessential Madrid Experience - churros con chocolate and the 6am metro

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I know they say that New York is the city that never sleeps, but I think that title needs to be reconsidered. Madrid is truly an all night city in all aspects. I have still not been able to fully adjust to the intense pace at which the Spaniards spend their nights.
It starts with dinner which is eaten MUCH later here than we are used to in the states. Dinner is usually around 9:30 or 10 p.m. (My family eats dinner really early at 8:30). This is partly because the work day in Spain is divided up a little differently with most businesses open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then again from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thus, people aren't home till later to eat, especially if they go for drinks after work.
Once dinner is complete, people go for Tapas and Cañas (I will spend another post to describe this experience) and will spend till one or so there before heading to the clubs to dance. Most clubs open around midnight but are empty till 3 a.m. when people start to flood their entrances. Because of this, you can usually get into clubs for free before 1:30 a.m. but you will be dancing by yourself (this is from experience as we are usually too cheap to pay the entrance ranging from 10 to 18 euros with one drink).
The clubs are for the most part all techno / house music mixed with current pop hits. Some of the more popular clubs (that also mostly cater to the foreigners and Spaniards seeking an international crowd) are Kapital (7 stories), Joy (3 stories), Pacha, and Orange Cafe.
The clubs are quite a bit of fun but can also be a little overwhelming at times. My energy can never last until 6 or 7 when most of the clubs close and therefore we must go where everyone else goes once they are ready to start winding down their night: churros con chocolate!
While you can get churros con chocolate everywhere, there is one very popular late night place that only sells churros con chocolate with very rich and delicious chocolate. This is THE place to be while you talk about the night and wait for the metro to open at 6 a.m. (even though taxis are pretty cheap, most of us rather just take the metro which we already have our pass for). The metro's stop running at 1:30 a.m. and while they have the O.W.L. nighttime buses, I have yet been able to figure these out.
Now you may be thinking this must just be on the weekends... but you would be wrong. For younger people (and sometimes creepy old people) this is a regular thing almost any night of the week with the exception of Sunday. And still just about everybody will go out for Cañas and Tapas and maybe dancing at smaller clubs no matter what age. It really is remarkable and so different... but also so much fun!

INTERESTING FACT: In case you are wondering "so what are these folks listening to in these clubs?", I have included a couple links of some of the most popular club hits that I have been hearing ever since I got here in August. These are songs that are mostly just played as is, as opposed to being mixed with another beat like a lot of the pop songs are. I am assuming these are being played in the U.S. too...

- "We no speak Americano"

- "Gettin over you"

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- "Ghosts N Stuff"

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Photos

THE Place for churros con chocolate
In the center of the city and is usually most crowded from 4 to 6 a.m.

In A Bar
from left to right: Colin (my roommate), Will, Magnolia, and Darlene.
Starting the night off...