Up?

Or Down? The rest of the story is in these pictures...

false start...

If the goal is to get to Kramarczuk's for lunch, going back to your office twice for forgotten crap is definitely going the wrong way.

left

Outside the office the hall to the right leads to the exit I usually take. This is manifestly a hall to the left. Have to take it.

stairs

If you go left, the way to the street is down the stairs. Here's me choosing to go up.

3rd floor

I went up to the top floor but the exit doors at 6, 5, and 4 were locked. Once you get to the third floor, there's the same situation I have on the 2nd: to the right is the elevator or the hall to the exterior; to the left is the skyway over to the other building. If you've ever driven down E Hennepin, you've seen this steamboat-neon sign in the skyway. Well, it makes for a bright bit of weirdness on my path.

eastbridge

Once over the skyway, the fastest route out of the building would be the right hand path I think. I diverted left (over another, open bridge) and further into the building. (for those of you in MSP, this is The Falls and The Pinnacle condos and the Eastbridge office plaza)

fountain

Crossing that bridge I saw this fountain which I think i've never noticed before (I never go over to Eastbridge is part of it). It was a pleasant sound, too.

parking ramp

On the other side of the bridge was the building's parking ramp. From where I'm standing the path that goes to my goal destination is to the right. I turned...

...left

and walked to the end of the parking ramp which opened out onto downtown. This is actually a really great view of the bridge and downtown. I love the winter trees, their skeletons, and the character of the Hennepin bridge is undeniable.

Do Not Enter means ENTER

I turned around from the downtown vista and plunged further into the parking ramp, figuring that going down the do not enter lane (presumably they're talking to drivers, not foot traffic) would be a suitably symbolic diversion and that perhaps this would take me further away.

in the ramp (the color in this picture makes it my favorite)

The decision here is to go Down, where I can get out. So I went up the ramp...

dead end

...up the ramp to this. A big old door with nothing indicating a way through. Damn. I lingered out here for a couple minutes, catching my breath and thinking my trip was done, there wasn't any really good way to keep going "the wrong way" and turning around meant going back down and basically getting it over with. Suddenly

through the big door!

The big dead end started to open, for no apparent reason! So I ran through and into the bowels of the "private" part of the ramp. This was closed off and quiet, the private parking spaces for residents of the condos.

journey to the middle of the day

this is me hurtling through the private parking ramp. I thought I'd better document my presence on the journey.

end of the line again

the parking ramp had an elevator area and downward stairs and this little up stair at the end. the sign says "residents only. do not prop open this door"" I went up but it was locked.

random door

out of place in a parking ramp. also locked I was beginning to feel forced into the elevator which was the right way out of the building.

elevator waiting area

In the hallway with the elevator were vending machines. I'm going to lunch right? what do i need a snack for, aw screw it, I'm buying the opposite of a good idea when you're wearing dark clothes: cheetos.

no go

Putting the dollar bill in with George's head going left instead of right didn't work on the vending machine. On the other hand, neither did turning him the right way. So I went to the bill changer

...so I went to the bill changer...

...which did take my bill facing the wrong way. This little pile of quarters is actually key to unlocking the turning point of my whole task, as you'll see in a moment.

out of the ramp

I couldn't use the elevator --it wasn't working--and though I hung around a little bit, eventually I either had to go back the way I came (maybe impossible? what opened those doors?) or down the stairs. Which took me outside. That building on the right is The Times Bar and Cafe, right next door to Kramarczuk's. Soo...

...I went left

There was a jingle and I knew what I had to do. The cheetos had cost fifty cents out of the dollar I'd changed. That bus stop is in the downtown zone which means fifty cents buys you a fare. From here the photos are not as fast and furious, because this is the moment when I realized I was going to do this task right after all and go catch that bus.

some anxiety creeping in

It was cold. Also I had missed the bus. I was getting acid indigestion or reflux or something because I hadn't eaten anything and the cold always makes me feel worse. I called in to update my progress while waiting for the bus and eating the cheetos (which took a little of the edge off). I think I knew I was doomed when I bought those cheetos because I was resigning myself to missing lunch entirely. The exact fare change just put the seal of fate on the affair.

61 downtown

I sat on the right side of the bus, opposite where I always try to sit.

call in from bus

right at the end of the call the driver was starting to say "8th street. last stop. this is the last stop on hennepin."

last stop.

I was sort of deciding that the "wrong way" objective was partly about seeing what opportunities get presented to the "situational explorer" once a "wrong way" was taken. I began to see the issue isn't about always doing the opposite, but choosing an opposite, and then watching for the next opportunities. It's a good strategy I think for loosening one up to do a derive. So the chance I took grabbing a bus didn't lead me so far astray, it brought me to downtown. From here the best choice is probably either to cross back over Hennepin and catch a northbound 4 or 6Uor go forward to that structure in the background and warm up while catching a northbound 61. At least if you're going to Kramarczuk's for the best dumpling soup those are good choices. I headed south a quarter block on Henn, then east on 8th street

the canyons of minneapolis

...proceeding down 8th on the opposite side from the best return bus to my work, further into downtown, further away from my goal. Also it struck me how empty this street was of pedestrians. Hopefully most of them were just sticking to the skyways due to cold. Otherwise, Minneapolis is a wee bit depressing in the daytime!

Nicollett Mall

If I turn north here I would be back on my way to Nordeast and eating hot dumping soup in 10 minutes. I kept walking east.

UP and OUT

I was heading further and further east and I realized I was getting close to the Metro Transit store on Marquett where i could at least accomplish one useful goal while being "stuck" in downtown. However, I walked past the IDS lobby. Blinked real hard and turned around, knowing I had an obligation to the task to take me opposite the convenient place I wanted to go. I went inside Minneapolis' tallest skyscraper (technicality) and headed for the elevators. this is a picture of the scale model of IDS in the IDS lobby. Now I'm all into other scale projects...

Top. Floor.

51. There's no observation deck in IDS anymore, so I wound up on shooting a pic of the elevator display.

restroom photography

Exiting the elevator I was presented with a door that would have (if the firm squatting there had been willing) let me look northward, at least to See my sweet sweet dumpling nirvana. Instead I went right (south), then left (toward... nothing until I saw the men's room. Here's the men's room on floor 51 of IDS.

Full length mirror with me.

One last men's room shot, starring me. There's also a TV which had Montel on it. I guess you gotta have some kind of TV chatter no matter where you go? I headed back down the elevator. I was going to go straight back out onto the street when I realized I'd better turn the wrong way from convenience, into the lobby/plaza and see what happens. Well, I got a sandwich at Cosi, for one, which was a relief. I didn't even know it was in there and if I hadn't gone deeper inside, I would have been painfully hungry. I stepped out the other side of the IDS ...

...right into the Transit store!

If I hadn't gone further in to fortuitously eat at Cosi, I might have eventually gotten to the Transit store, but by taking a route that wasn't as clear in my mind, I stepped right out to go get it. I took this as a sign I'd applied a sound strategy and got my bus pass and transit map needs attended to straightaway.

coming out of the transit store

I headed west this time on 7th. Back at Nicollett, I looked north, toward my destination, a little sad but knowing I'd had great experiences. Then i half-heartedly turned south...

..which was awesome!

Because I found a bus stopped right there that I caught! If I'd gone right, I would've gone Toward my goal, but by going opposite, I think I accelerated my progress!

silent streets

this photo is included because of its lomographic qualities

crossing back

after going south to go north, I was able to make a picture of the blessed river

back in nordeast

Here I'm questioning my next steps. I got off the bus, facing north, with my office behind me. And kept walking.

square one

I was late at this point and I was at a loss for getting back to the office. I had sort of decided to circle around the block, going opposites again. As I'd started down the street toward the south, feeling like a cheater but resigned that I had a good task so far with decent insights, I came to this parking ramp. Augh! But I knew I had to enter it, since going IN and UP were antithetical to the easy return Down and Toward. I had started to go up higher into the bowels of the ramp when...

...yes!

and there I was, heading up higher into the ramp when a Right Wrong Way presented itself: if my mental state had entered a resigned phase of further upward travel, this opposition was my liberation! This little exit pointed me OUT of the ramp and just happened to connect to the sidewalk not at a right angle, instead pointing me in the direction of my office. Taking the jump into the ramp opened up this opportunity to take the wrong direction home.