Torino - First impressions

Torino is an industrial town... and looks it. In Athens, everything
looked ancient, but here everything just looks old. Maybe its just
the weather, but it is dark and drab and grey most of the time. There
is a haze around the city and you can't see the mountains most days
(which are supposed to be a 90 minute drive away), and even the sun
appears as a dull orange/red disc well into the morning before it is
hidden by clouds. I'm told things are much brighter after a day or
two of rain or snow. The temperature has been very nice at around 8C
most days.

Here's a picture that illustrates the kind of haze that seems to be hanging around the city (clue: the blob in the background is supposed to be the sun).



One of the downsides of doing the Winter Olympics is that there are
fewer daylight hours. Most mornings I am heading in to work just as
the sun is coming up, and then heading home well after dark. And
unlike Salt Lake City, where I lived at the Best Western in the
downtown core, I am living at a Media Village that is not quite in
the suburbs, but isn't downtown either.

The streetscapes are kind of depressing looking, with barred windows,
and rolling sheet metal covers over store fronts when they are not
open. The streets are lined with apartments, mostly about 5-10 stories
high, that have retail stores on the first floor. It sometimes feels
like driving throught a canyon with walls on each side. I haven't seen
any houses, or lawns, and most of the trees are deciduous (and so without
leaves right now). There is very little greenery, save for a few
conifers, and surprisingly, a few palm trees (still with green leaves).

This is home to auto-maker Fiat, and that name is everywhere on
buildings all over the city. It also seems that 90-95% of the cars
here are hatchbacks (of various brands: Fiat, VW, Toyota, Ford, Citroen,
and some other European brands). The other vehicles are buses, or
mini-vans. There are very few large cars or SUVs. Gas is 1.25 Euro per
litre, which is about $1.78 CDN. The gas stations are weird, they are
right along the road, or sometimes in the median between opposing lanes
of traffic, and are long and thin, kinda like a pit stop at a race track.
Most are unattended, so you just pull off the road, gas up, and then
merge back into traffic. The other weird thing is that I have been here
for a week, and the gas price hasn't changed since I got here (certainly
not the way it works back home).

At the IBC, I'm here a week earlier than I was in Athens, and it seems
like we have a long way to go to be ready for the Games. Many of the
communications sites at the venues do not have their communication
circuits (voice and Ethernet) in place, and some don't even have power
yet (as of Wednesday). The mobile trucks often pull up at the last
minute also. This means that we will have to send COMMs crews back to
each venue multiple times to finish installation of our equipment.
Since some of the venues are (at least) 90 minutes away in the mountains,
this is a real problem for us. There is a fair bit of stress in the air,
but I think it will all work out (it has too!) by the time we get to
Opening Ceremonies on February 10th.

I expect my postings to be a little chaotic, at least until the Games
start, and we get into a routine. I have been having trouble getting
email and internet access, but think I have that worked out now. I'm not
even sure yet what my work hours are going to be. Right now we are all
working roughly 8am to 8pm, but the facility is moving to 24 hour
operation soon.

Cheers - Sean