#just so you know how tired i got. i never do siestas. only in emergencies

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

Mapping Madrid: Week 8

For this one, I went to a place I didn't even know existed, Ríos Rosas, named after the politician Antonio de los Ríos Rosas, which is a very fun name to have honestly (in English it translates to Anthony of the Pink Rivers). It is located in Santa Engracia Street, in the Chamberí district. It is one of the oldest stations in the city, built in 1919, which makes it be in the Line 1. It is right next to the Canal de Isabel II. One of the stereotypes of people from Madrid is that we think our tap water is the best in the world. Although objectively that is just false, I will still defend it cause I think it's fun. Anyways, what is true is that Madrid's tap water is a good one, thanks to the previously mentioned Canal de Isabel II, the business who regulates the water supply to the city, through a channel built by Isabel II (Elizabeth II or Isabella II) in 1851 that gets water from the Lozoya River, in the mountains north of the city, into Madrid. Next to Ríos Rosas, in the Ríos Rosas Park, stands the oldest water supply tower in the city, built in 1911, and refurbished into an exhibition hall in 1985. I visited it, as it had a free exhibition on the photographer Joana Biarnés, considered the first Spanish woman photojournalist. It was focused on her work with fashion, and there were even some dresses on display like the dress Karina used in Eurovision 1971!!! (of course I recognized it immediately) Speaking of Eurovision, she photographied Massiel, Spanish representative and winner of Eurovision 1968, as well as the aforementioned Karina. She also photographied icons like Pilar Bardem (Javier Bardem's mother), or Marisol [center right pic]. As I was watching the exhibition I got this feeling that she could've known my grandpa, who was a photographer in the same years as her and also dabbled into photojournalism. And, just as I suspected, once I asked my mum later in the day she confirmed they knew each other and worked together. My grandpa passed away last November, so this hit hard. Anyways, I couldn't do much more in Ríos Rosas cause I was running a bit late (I had to do so many stops on the way there to do some errands you don't even know), but before going into the water supply tower I did what I always do around Book Day (April 23rd) and bought myself a book! This time I went to an English-only library, so I bought a classic English-speaking book, The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway! I was gonna get The Great Gatsby at first, but Hemingway's was way cheaper and I needed every cent I could save lol.