As I stated in my last blog post, I arrived here in Milan at 6:30pm Monday night. I took a taxi from the airport straight to my hotel, and then had the taxi driver wait outside the hotel to drive me to the next location, the main press center (MPC).
It was imperative to get to the MPC right away in order to get my paper credentials fully accredited and laminated. This is where they "turn on" the credential to make it valid and embed the RFID tag into the badges we wear. Normally this happens at the airport, but because I flew into the local airport and not the larger International airport, there was no official Olympic station for this to happen. That was a little strange AND there was almost no Olympic signage to welcome people to Milan. I thought to myself "The Olympics are happening here right?" In past Olympics, when I would get off the plane, this is all I would see. I mentioned this at the USOPC office yesterday and they said that other people had mentioned this as well.
I arrived at the MPC around 7:30pm and had a hard time finding the entrance since there is very little signage pointing me to where I need to go. But after some searching I found the right entrance. I went to go in and was not granted entry since my credentials had not been officially turned on yet. So I exited the MPC and found a tent just outside the main building where they could help me out.
Here is small office where they validated my credentials and got me all set up. Then I could get access into the MPC.
Once I entered the MPC, the first thing I saw was all these booths set up as help stations. The only one I visited was the transportation desk, trying to figure out the public transportation options. We used to get a public transport card to use throughout the city, but I found out that this time around, it is digitally accessed through our phones. More about that in a future blog post.
I went upstairs to check out the main media work area. Since it was at night, and still almost one week before the Games, it was very quiet.
I even peeked into one of the press conference rooms...
...and had to get a photo there!
I was getting the lay of the land in the building and almost forgot the second most important reason for visiting the MPC, to get my photographers sleeve. These sleeves allow us to get into a photo position. Without the sleeve, we can not shoot in any photo area! For those of you who have followed the blog for more than 8 years, you will remember the
great sleeve incident in Pyeongchang, Korea!
Here is a shot showing the hallway between the MPC and the International Broadcast Center (IBC), where we find the official store for Olympic merchandise.
The store was not open yet, but they let me in to take a look (and get photos for all of you).
There is even a small supermarket if we need some things.
With all this alcohol, they must really know the Olympic press!
Unlike most Olympics, I was able to walk into the IBC to see what they have to offer. As always, they have much better food options than us photographers and editors.
It is unlikely that I will have access to the IBC area once the Games begin.
I think that the MPC has two food options, whereas at the IBC I saw at least 5 restaurants.
What do you know - they have pizza in Italy? :)
When walking on the 2nd floor, I was able to see down to all the offices below. This really gives you an idea of how they turned this convention center area into a temporary press center.
This is a view of the MPC during the daytime. After making three trips here already, I think I may have figured out the best routes on the train.
Here is the Canon CPS desk. It will be much busier in the days to come. I know...I know...you want to see what's behind the walls. I am working on that and hope to get photos of all the equipment very soon. I do know that there is less equipment vs previous Olympics (at this location), since there are 4 different physical locations this time around. Either way, it is still worth seeing!
Here is a view of the press working area. This is where I have been working for at least an hour a day. Mostly writing these blogs in between other assignments.
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