The Sunrise Room: future arms

Saturday, February 10, 2007

future arms

I went out today after waking up in the afternoon and decided to explore. Brought my camera. Yesterday I had intended to take pictures all guerrilla warfare style in the streets but as I got off the train and turned it on it turned back off and told me my battery was dead. I charged it, and now, today, I was back in action

I went into a bar called Noah's Ark. The name is what drew me. Because I had walked all the way to Grunerloka, which is semi-far from downtown and last time I went down there Alex and I took the tram, but I walked it because the sun was out and not so bad until it went down. I was able to see a lot of things. But Noah's Ark was good and I had a beer and sat there alone watching the bustle of the staff working away.

I walked around and I saw a lot of the slums and passed a jaguar dealership and lots of graffiti and refuse and people just standing around looking blankly. The whole street top covered in electric wires for the tram. I walked into a very tiny coffee shop with a small girl and a guy just talking, shooting the shit. I got a cup of black coffee and sat down staring out at the street with the window covered in wet fog and steam and was tempted to write on it with my fingers. I sat there for a while but a group of three girls came in and gave off the vibe they wanted to sit down. I was in the middle of the counter, with there being only three seats total so I just finished smiled and left. I continued walking around. Someone approached me asking for directions to the statue park. And that was weird. I tried explaining it to him and his friend but they were so far away from it and they wanted to walk. I dissuaded them on it and the smiled and left. I checked out a bunch of bars walking a long.

In Grunerloka, most places are all old buildings that have been renovated and there is supposed to be student housing that was an old silo so all the rooms are circular. But I didn't find that. All the bars and shops are tiny so most of them were already packed with groups of Norwegians. I managed my way to the top, where is where I found Noah's Ark and enjoyed my beer.

The second place was across the street called Torst and I used the bathroom first. Then had another beer and watched a giant flatscreen of a fire burning and a woman who was intended to be mentally insane run around and over this fire flapping her arms and the thing just looped.

The bartender made mojitos for a couple that walked in. A girl bartender came up to me while changing the music on the ipod and said a whole bunch of things in Norwegian and then left smiling before I could say I didn't understand. Just sitting there ruminating over the words. Finished, peed again, left. It was dark and cold. I had been wearing my large coat indoors unbuttoned, now buttoned, now stepping through the snow and parks walking back downtown.

I saw a crown on Karl Johans Gate street and asked myself, "Why are all those people standing around there? Something good must be going down." So I walked into the thick of it and just assaulted with offers for hash which I stared at them and was like, oh, drug dealers. Thats what they are doing. Then I shrugged and headed over to the train. Took it back, warmed my feet up.

And heard about how the government lost 12 billion dollars in cash on pallets and then how their solution involved rival tip lines to report problems with efficiency.

Pictures now.