Carmen City Hall

Out of the darkness of night looms the Carmen City Hall. Even in daylight its open slightly rusted gates look foreboding as if you expect something to happen. Beyond the always-open gates you have the city hall itself. A building built of large grey stones in a long rectangular shape with two large towers at each extremity. Two stories of long building with a few steps leading to a large arched doorway in the middle. On the arch of the doorway there are engravings, a little thin to make out. A positive sign that this building is old. The doorway itself is of dark wood, polished to a shine with a small silver knocker and letterbox. Inside the door there is the lobby of the city hall. Shiny light wooden floor but keeping its gothic appearance from outside. Large grey stonewalls, arches with engravings on of various things depicting the citys history. The lobby is quite small, has a small reception; boxed in and barred to the immediate right of the doorway and a few modern couches that serve as a waiting area. A lonely still water machine hums off to the left. From the lobby there is a staircase opposite the reception that has a silver railing in the stonewall. The staircase leads up to what looks like a normal wooden door with a golden handle. In the opposite direction there is one big corridor stemming from one end of the building to the other. The lobby is situated in the middle of this long corridor, expanding out into the small room just described. Whichever way you take the corridor it ends up turning into the main hall. This has a black and white marble floor and a main area in the middle of the room, surrounded by arches that support the second storey. In the alcoves there are seats built into the wall of stone, velvet cushion seats. People can look down on the middle area from the surrounding balcony, which stems from the staircase in the lobby. The first shock as anyone ascends the stairs from the lobby into the upper level is that the door is extremely high-security. It refuses to open unless you are provided with a key from reception. Beyond the door is a corridor that winds all the way around the balcony that looks down onto the great hall. The railings of the balcony are wrought iron, twisted and bent and illuminated by modern candles- electric and encased in glass. On the main corridor upstairs there are two rooms extending into the very furthest part of the building. The two rooms, one in each tower either side of the building. One is a bar and the other is a conference room, which is usually rented out for important meetings and talks of state etc.