The Olympics... and beyond

For the first time in my six Olympics, with the exception of the time I spent in the COVID quarantine upon my arrival in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, today was a day with Olympic action and I didn't see any of it. At least not in person. That's because I spent the majority of my day on one mode of transportation or another as I moved out of my hotel in Milan and up to my hotel outside Anterselva. This is something I have never done before at any of my previous five Olympics. I have always stayed in the same location for the duration of my stay. Sometimes they've been really convenient (PyeongChang, Beijing), sometimes they're not (Tokyo, Paris) and sometimes they're perfectly fine, one way or the other (Sochi). But with the spread out nature of these Olympics, it would be impossible to stay in one place and see more than just a couple of sports.  I made the decision to stay in Milan for a few days, seeing the Opening Ceremony, some hockey, figure skating and speedsk...

I slept in an extra half-hour this morning (I forgot to set the alarm and woke up just after 6:30 a.m.), but that was fine, as I had nowhere to specifically be first thing this morning. The only Olympic action going on in the morning was up in the mountains and I am not there yet. So, after breakfast at the hotel (their breakfast buffet is absolutely incredible and included in my room rate), I went to take the usual train that I take from the hotel, but as it turns out, that train doesn't run on Sundays. So rather than take the bus to the other train station, I decided to walk there and realized it's not a bad walk at all (for future reference, it's good to know). It does seem that Italians take Sundays off, or at least start later. The streets, with the exception of the large flea market going on outside my hotel, were pretty empty, as were the trains, making the commute into the Main Press Center a little easier than normal. I had some stories to write on the New Hampshir...

Milano-Cortina marked my third Olympic Opening Ceremony, following Beijing back in 2022 and Paris in 2024. Out of all of that, I am not sure I thought that Beijing would still rank at the top of the list all these years later, but after last night, it still does. The biggest issue with Beijing was that it was very cold. Credit to the organizers, they left gloves and hats for all the media members in the press seats, which was a great touch and greatly appreciated, even if I had a hat and gloves already. But we got in and out of there relatively easily (there were really no spectators, so that helped). Paris had a grand idea of having the parade on the river and in many ways that was great. It allowed more people to see the athletes as they floated down the river. The problem, at least from the media standpoint, was that they had us in certain zones and there was absolutely no protection from the rain and there was no place to plug in any laptops or phones. When the ceremony ended, we w...

It's officially Opening Ceremony time (or will be in two and a half hours) and I am sitting in a seat that is not all that comfortable waiting for the action. I got here early because I know it was a tough ticket to get, even for the media, so as soon as I finished up at this morning's figure skating, I got the train back to the Main Press Center for a few minutes and then caught the special media bus to take us to the Opening Ceremony. The trip was a short one and the process to get into the stadium was not that bad, though they did make me dump my water so I had to buy some once I got inside. And the old guy that I am didn't like the stairs, but waiting for the elevator wasn't too appealing either. So, I am sitting here waiting for things to begin, so a good time to look back on a couple of days now. The issues I have had so far are mostly just things I need to learn. I have to figure out exactly how to navigate the public transport system, though I am slowly getting ...

After all the drama of the first day, it's a new day in Milan and it was time to get the Olympics officially started on Thursday. I got up a little after 6 a.m. and hit the hotel breakfast, which offered plenty of great choices, which made my morning. The Paris hotel breakfast left a lot to be desired, so it was good to see all the options and able to find things that I eat, which is not always the easiest. The next adventure was trying to find my way to the Main Press Center from the hotel. I put the information into the transportation app and it told me exactly how to get there. I went to the train station near the hotel and got on what I was hoping was the correct train (it had no number on it, so it was really a guess) and it turned out that I was right. I took the train to the station that was listed, got off and made my way to the next train, which dropped me off at the station right near the Main Press Center. After going in the wrong entrance at first, I found my way to the...

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have a trip to the Olympics. Probably not as catchy as the original, but kind of fitting. The flight to Paris was great, despite the fact that we left about a half-hour late. The seat next to me was empty, I had splurged a little and bought a premium seat so there was more room, which came in handy when it came time to sleep. We had dinner (which really wasn't all that bad for airplane food) and I fell asleep pretty easily and slept for most of the flight. I woke up as they were serving breakfast prior to landing in Paris. Paris is a massive airport and I had to take a train from one terminal to the next, but I was not expecting to have to go through security again. I ended up having to dump two bottles of water that I purchased in the airport believing I was through security until I left the airport. Then my backpack got flagged (it didn't at Logan) and they had to take my camera out and make sure it wasn...