That’s right. We have officially touched down in Vancouver for the Olympics. Writer John Boyle and I got started this/Thursday morning, bright and early, leaving my north Seattle house at 7:30am. After a quick stop in Everett for some gas and caffeine (the gas was for the car, the caffeine for the occupants) we cruised on up to the border.
After watching for the digital reader boards that list the board wait times – all were listing five minutes – we pulled into the Peace Arch crossing. ALL TEN LANES WERE OPEN AND THERE WERE A TOTAL OF THREE CARS AT THE BORDER. I had a tough time deciding which lane to choose! We finally decided on lane seven and pulled up. The customs officer asked us who we were and what we were doing. We informed her, produced our Olympics credentials and passports and with the wave of her magic arm, ushered us across the border in no time flat.
Now, as a photographer, I DO NOT pack light. I had11 bags crammed in the back of my Subaru, not to mention the sizable stack that John brought as well. I was half afraid that customs was going to toss the car and we would spend hours at the border trying to get all the stuff packed up again. Thankfully, no such tossing occurred. Happy day.
We got into our Vancouver hotel around 10am. My room was ready, but John’s was not, so we unloaded the bags and shoveled them all into my room. We were then off to the shuttle/train into downtown and the Main Press Centre.
The shuttle from the hotel took us on about a five-minute ride to the SkyTrain station where we boarded the Canada Line and rode it to its terminus on the waterfront where the Main Press Centre (MPC) is located. All told, travel time from hotel to MPC is about 45 minutes.
We checked in with the USOC (that’s the US Olympic Committee) and got our “tickets” to the Opening Ceremonies. For high demand events, like the Opening Ceremony, the IOC “tickets” certain members of the media and only those with tickets are allowed in. We were lucky. Apparently, the USOC considers us “local media” and therefore were are a little higher up in the pecking order for tickets. Here’s to the cities on the Salish Sea!
After ticketing, John sat down to start up the blog and I went to check in with the Photo Help Desk. I signed in with them and they handed me yet another media guide, this time it was photo specific and very informative, and a lovely green armband thing that I have to wear whenever I’m shooting. I think it brings out the color of my eyes. (That was a joke, my eyes are brown, and nothing brings out their color.) So after getting armbaned, I crossed the photo workroom to visit Canon. I filled out an info card for them, joking with the Europeans (I think) about American/English writing styles and promptly asked if they had any spare Mark IVs lying about. They said, “Yeah, totally. You want one?” I said, “Yes, please.” Then peed my pants a little and arranged to pick up my loaner Mark IV Friday morning before the Opening Ceremonies. It was cool.
After my excitement with Canon, it was off to a late lunch at a brewpub place called the Steamworks. It was good. I had a salad, in an effort to attempt to eat healthy up here and John had the fish tacos. We would totally recommend either. Over lunch, we laid out our rough plan for the first week or so. It felt good to have a plan. A busy, busy plan, but a plan nonetheless.
We walked around Gastown after lunch and eventually made it back to the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company Olympics Superstore on Granville. There was a line to get in. Yes, people were waiting in line to spend money. John was appalled by this, but I wanted red mittens, and so I waited in the line while he went back to the MPC for a free massage.
The line went very quickly, and I was in the store in about 8 minutes. Shopping, shopping, shopping and an hour later I left the store with items for coworkers, family and friends. My pocket was $290 lighter, but hey, it’s just Canadian money right?! (The current exchange rate 1.0533 USD to 1.0000 CAD) And I got a couple pairs of the famed red mittens!
After my red mitten campaign, it was back to the MPC to meet up with John. He had email troubles, so we didn’t get out of there until about 7pm. We wandered around downtown for a while looking for a bar that would turn the Husky basketball on. It was hard until the 4:30pm Canucks game was over. We ended up at a place called Smiley’s that was nice enough to turn one of their huge projector TVs on to the game. The Huskies got killed, because they weren’t playing at home and I ate a garden burger. Then I went to a party.
Did I mention the Canon/Nikon party invitation? It came with my green armband and it said if I went to the Vancouver Aquarium between 7 and 10pm I would receive a gift. I went to the Vancouver Aquarium and got a gift. Sorry writers, photogs only. Let me just say, the photog gift was much better than the standard Olympics media swag bag.
nice
Alright, well, this blog post is way too long with not enough photos, so I hope you’ll forgive me on the first day. Expect a ton more photos and a lot less yapping from me on future blog posts.
Good night from Vancouver.
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