Behind the Scenes in the International Broadcasting Center

Each of us at BikeHike gets a day off to enjoy the 2010 Winter Olympic events here in Vancouver. Meg is on her Olympic day today, and I (Anny) had mine yesterday.

I had the opportunity to take a private tour of the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) where CTV, NBC and all the international television stations are filming their 2010 Olympic coverage.

The IBC is just one big building of impressive! At first when you walk into the large open hall it feels like any other corporate building with wide walkways, information and accreditation booths, and a set of flat panel screens showing all the current Olympic coverage. Then you begin to notice the little things like how the walls are made of intricately woven wooden blocks that conceal doors to massive ballrooms and storage areas, and that every Winter Olympic flag from 1924 to 2010 have been hung from the ceilings that are a good four or five meters high.

Look outside the floor-to-ceiling windows towards the white sails of Canada Place, and you’ll notice a barrier of logs floating in the water surrounding the IBC. There’s a little grey boat patrolling the area no bigger than a tin can from where you’re standing. It’s the diving team patrolling the area for uninvited guests looking to crash the Olympic party. I wonder if they’ve ever caught anyone?


CTV

Up the escalators, you’ll find the CTV floor. Over a thousand workers are busy taping, reviewing footage, editing, and eating between shifts. You walk past the front desk with your temporary guest pass and wonder if anyone will stop you. Nah, you’re standing next to a guy with Norwegian curling pants. Between the glances and the “cool pants” comments, nobody notices you or checks your badge. You’re cool.

You walk through a narrow corridor with large makeshift cubicles lining the entire side. There are about six to a dozen seats and computers in each large cubicle station, and it’s obvious people are here to work. The temporary walls are covered in notices, schedules, highlighted segment lists, and Olympic paraphernalia. It’s crazy to think that all of this was put up just for the Olympics and all of it will be gone by the end of March.

One lonely desk sits at the end of the cubicles for the girl who distributes pins. It looks like they’re all gone now, and she turns to see who you are. A long list of names is hung beside her computer with all the workers who need to exchange their CTV jackets for larger or smaller sizes. The list has grown so long she’s taped several sheets below it as people continually write and cross off their names once they’ve traded outfits.

It smells like food. You start to see why as you pass the pins girl and walk towards the end of the floor. It’s the Cafeteria and it’s loaded with free food. Outside food is not allowed in the IBC, so they’re providing everyone at CTV with food around the clock including ice cream bars, and all the Coca Cola beverages you can drink. The smell isn’t that great and even though you’re a guest, you’re technically not allowed to consume any Cafeteria food so you turn around and head towards the studios.

On your way down, you pass a long set of tables with dozens of tired workers with their eyes glued to their monitors. They’re the “Loggers.” Their job is to watch everything that goes on in the Olympics and take note of what happened, where it happened, and when it happened. They input the information in codes to the main database so that when a journalist needs to know what time Team Canada scored, they get what they need with a stroke of a key.

You reach another narrow hallway. There are windows in this hall that look into the sets and control rooms. It feels almost like you’re in bizarro world because so many of the sets look identical but with different names above the Olympic rings. CTV. RDS. You take a non-flash picture through a window of a live broadcast. The host notices you and you hope you haven’t annoyed her. You walk away quickly.

There’s a studio open and the guys inside invite you in to take pictures. How awesome! A guy named Pascal offers to pose for you. They’re all super chill between segments and you chat a bit about who’s got dibs on the Olympic set props once they’re done filming.

In the control rooms, the seats are surprisingly empty and the keyboards look intimidating. There are so many buttons! Everyone works in shifts and another one will start soon so most of the workers are grabbing a quick bite in the Cafeteria.

The Basement

The tour of the CTV floor is over and you’re on the longest escalator ride of your life down to the IBC Basement floor where everyone who’s not CTV is working. It really is the longest elevator you’ve ever seen.

You enter through a set of double doors and feel like you’re about to enter a gigantic ballroom. It would be one, except the entire floor space has been taken up by temporary blocks of rooms containing mini sets and production houses from every participating country.

You sneak a peak into the open Korea house. It looks like a student lounge complete with couches, a fridge, and a guy reading a paper. You sneak a peak into the doors to the Russian television stations. A man sits at a desk as if he’s security and looks at you as if to say “what do you want?” The Russian room is sectioned off into smaller rooms all of which are closed so you quickly move on.

The Norwegian room is packed. They’ve flown in some last minute hosts and had to create a mini set within the tight space they’ve been given. It’s hot inside with so many people and you marvel at how warmly they’re dressed. They obviously didn’t get the memo about Vancouver’s warm winter climate.

You turn a corner and find the largest section of them all: NBC. They even have their own security station! You spot the moose that Stephen Colbert rode on his show last week. His production team left it in Vancouver and NBC didn’t know what to do with it so it’s just sitting in the hall without its antlers (they wouldn’t fit through the doors). You ask the security guard if you could please take a picture with it. He says he’s technically not supposed to let anyone except NBC personnel in, but since it’s for the moose he double checks with his boss. They approve. Yay!

The Olympic Flame

Finally it’s time to visit the flame. You walk outside and see the crowds covering the entire glass wall surrounding the viewing area. Thank goodness you don’t have to be part of that mass. Sadly though, spectators have been complaining about how IBC workers were allowed to walk right up to the flame, under and around it while visitors had to stay several meters back and behind a fence. They’ve since erected a short black fence around the flame that keeps IBC workers away from the flame too so your picture isn’t as nice as you had hoped it would be. That’s ok, you got a behind the scenes tour of the IBC. And you even managed to get a picture with CTV Anchor Lisa LaFlamme (even IBC workers don’t get that privilege).

For more pictures and Olympic coverage, visit BikeHike's Flickr page.

Anny Chih

Mittens!! Mittens!! Who Wants Mittens?

Olympic fever is still going strong and The Bay's online store has already sold out of those red Olympic mittens!
Want a pair? BikeHike is giving away six pairs of Olympic mitts from now until the end of the games. All you have to do to enter is either:

• Become a BikeHike Facebook Fan
• Follow @bikehiketravel Twitter
• Write on the BikeHike Facebook Fan Page
• Send a tweet to @bikehiketravel
• Leave a comment on the BikeHike Blog*
  
• Leave a comment on the BikeHike Flickr Page*

*If you leave a comment, be sure to include your e-mail address so we can let you know if you won!

Each comment, tweet, and message counts as an entry into our random draws. Our first winner will be announced at 11am today! :)

Anny Chih

An Olympic Commute

Vancouverites have been speculating and worrying for months about what kind of an impact the 2010 Winter Olympics would have on their daily commutes. It wasn’t until today though that we at BikeHike saw a dramatic change in how we got to work. Here are two very different versions of our morning commute:

Anny

I got on the train at Metrotown Station and was surprised to see how many people had their noses buried behind a giant photo of Quachi and “Attack of the Olympics” headline on the free 24Hrs newspaper. Normally there are only one or two readers per train car, but today at least half of the commuters were consumed with snippets of Olympics news.


I got off at Granville Station to catch my bus to Granville Island (where the BikeHike Adventure office is located). As I walked past the new igloo decorations of Pacific Center, I realized that there was no way my bus was going to arrive on time. The streets were teeming with enthusiastic Olympic supporters, proud Canadians, trigger-happy bystanders with cameras, tripods and cell phones, and even some pets decked out in Olympic gear. It was still over half an hour before the Olympic torch was going to go past, and traffic was already at a standstill as people began to spill out onto the streets in hoards.

A team of police officers on horses paraded past, as did the Coca Cola bus, the RBC bus, a bus of people with red mittens waiving enthusiastically through the windows, and finally the torch bearer. There were so many people on the streets, on the sidewalks, and even in the trees that the torch bearer had to pause every once in a while to squeeze past.

I stood on the corner for about 40 minutes before my bus finally arrived, but it felt as if barely a minute had passed. There was so much spirit in the air and just being part of the crowd (as lame as this sounds) was exciting.

I was 10 minutes late for work. :P

Meghan

My experience was the complete opposite to Anny. My commute is from Marpole to South Granville (for those of you who live here). The roads were so quiet and the line-ups that are normally really long for the bus were non-existent. I am not sure where everyone was? I have several theories why my commute was stress free this morning:

1. All the Vancouver people have fled the city for the Olympics or are on vacation
2. Everyone was at Stanley Park watching The Terminator run with the Olympic Torch
3. Everyone was so panicked about the commute that they left for work earlier than normal
   
4. People left for work earlier than normal in anticipation of leaving work early to not miss any of the Opening Ceremonies that begins at 6:00pm. After all, we are all curious to see who will be the chosen one to light the Olympic Cauldron!

Regardless, my commute to work was so quick. I felt like I was riding through a ghost town. I wonder what next week will bring?

(Anny: Meg arrived 10 minutes earlier than normal)


Click HERE for more BikeHike Olympic Photos via our Flickr account (bikehiketravel).

Meghan Burton & Anny Chih

Google to the Rescue

2010 Winter Olympic alpine ski training runs have been cancelled for the day due to weather changes. According to Olympic alpine rules, all athletes must have at least one trial run before competition can begin. Canadians might be secretly hoping that this will give Vancouverite skiers an advantage, but I think everyone will agree it's just a little bit unfair.

Worldwide alpine skiers, fear not! Google is to the rescue with their new Olympics Street View which starting yesterday maps out all the Whistler Mountain ski slopes:

A Sense of the Olympics

We’re only two days away from the 2010 Winter Olympics and you can really start to feel it in Vancouver! With national houses beginning to open to the public, guest lists for clubs and events quickly filling up, road closures and a swarm of smurfs on the streets (our term of endearment for Olympic volunteers), get ready to overload your senses!

See it
You can’t look around without being exposed to some form of Olympic paraphernalia. From the red Olympics mittens to the patriotic Canadian flags hanging from every building (and the Aussie Boxing Kangaroo too), it’s hard not to feel the pressure to get some gear of your own. But then you’ll arrive at The Bay (the official Olympics clothing suppliers) and see the long lineup of new tourists and think twice about reliving the nightmare of last Boxing Day. Tip: If you want Olympics gear without the lineup, try Zellers (also owned by The Bay Company).

Taste it
Even if you don’t get the gear you can at least experience the national houses and taste all the foods they’re bringing in. The Swiss national house opened last Friday on Granville Island serving cheese, chocolate and raclettes. The Aboriginal Pavilion will open this Friday night and serve aboriginal cuisine (there are rumours of some bison sliders). And even if you don’t make it to the houses, heaps of restaurants and cafes have put together special Olympic menus and dishes for your dining pleasure.

Hear it
Much to the dismay of the sleep deprived Vancouverites living near the new Irish House (normally referred to as Doolin’s Irish Pub), the Olympics are bringing in more sound than many hoped for. Dozens of irritated Vancouverites called the police last night to complain about the loud music blasting from the pub.

Once the games start though, these Vancouverites will hardly have an excuse to stay at home at night. Every night of the Olympics, there will be fabulous not-to-be-missed concerts including Les Cowboys Fringants at Place de la Francophonie (the Francophone House), Feist at the Orpheum, and much much more.

Smell it
This might be the only sense that won’t have a reason to be pleased during the Olympics as it brings in hundreds of smokers to the city and attempts to squish everyone into already congested skytrains and buses. Even smokers won’t be pleased as they realize that there are very few places in the city where smoking is legal.

Ah well, the Olympics doesn’t come around all that often. I heard a good quote the other day about it: It’s like your roommate decided to throw a party you didn’t approve of. You can either sit in your room and sulk about it, or you can go out and enjoy the party.

I hope you enjoy the party!


Anny Chih

Funcouver: Everything You Wanted to Know About Visiting Vancouver

We've gotten several new Twitter followers this week (Yay!), and we asked one of them how he found us. He said he was searching for things to do in Vancouver and found the BikeHike site. Well, this got us thinking...

There are a lot of people nowadays looking for information about Vancouver because of the upcoming Winter Olympics. As all travellers know, the best way to find out more about a place is to ask a local. BikeHike is based in Vancouver so we know the place pretty well. Here are some links and info that we think you might find useful if you're thinking about a trip to Vancouver:

Food
If you're searching for a good restaurant, try the Dine Here website. It has a great search option and loads of reviews.

Some of our favourite restaurants:
Bon's Off Broadway - breakfast
Provence Marinaside - brunch
Burgoo - lunch / dinner
Japadog - streetside vendor
The Foundation - vegetarian
The Balkan House - meatatarian
Vij's Rangoli - Indian dinner
Les Faux Bourgeois - French bistro dinner

Music / Concerts
The Georgia Straight (a free indie paper in Vancouver) has a fab listing of concerts around the area. Here's a link to the free concert events happening during the Olympics: http://www.straight.com/vancouver/winter-olympics-calendar-events

For concert listings year-round, check out: http://www.straight.com/timeout/search/music

Night Scene
Club Zone is probably the premier website for club listings in Vancouver.

Some recommendations for the following clubbing categories:
Pub with Live Music: Ceili's, Blarney Stone
The Tried and Tested Clubs: Caprice, Ginger Sixty Two
Hit or Miss (depends on the night and your preferences): Pop Opera, The Cellar
Gay / Lesbian: Celebrities (except on straight nights - phone ahead)

In general, if you're looking to go clubbing in Vancouver head to Granville Street. If you go before 10pm, you can usually ask the bouncers to let you check out the place before paying the entrance fee. Almost all clubs in Vancouver require a valid drivers license for entry - they scan it and keep it in the database in case something happens and the police need to know who was in the club that night. Always bring at least two pieces of valid identification.

Events
If you're visiting Vancouver during the Winter Olympics, this is a great site for free event listings: http://www.citycaucus.com/2010free

Our resident Vancouver blogger is Miss 604 is also a good source for general Vancouver-based events and news.

Other Popular Things To Do

1. Visit the Vancouver Aquarium - one of the best aquariums in the world; highly educational, fun and interactive
2. Science World (officially: the Telus World of Science) - fun for the family with lots of brain puzzles and interesting factoids about your body and the world around you
3. Biking / walking along the sea wall - you'll have lots of company since this is something just about all Vancouverites have done at least once in their lifetime
4. Visit Stanley Park - it's a beautiful park with views of the ocean and the city; you might even see a seal!
5. Shopping along 4th Avenue or Robson Street - you'll find the regular chain stores on Robson; 4th Avenue is where all the local designers set up shop
6. Visit Granville Island - there will be lots of events happening on Granville Island during the Olympics, but it's a great place all year round to enjoy a stroll, eat some freshly baked bread, and have a beer after the theatre with friends
7. Go hiking - one of the most popular activities amongst Vancouverites
   

Quirky

1. Visit the Vancouver Flea Market. The entrance fee is $0.75 and promises an afternoon of "treasure-hunting"
2. Look for local Vancouverite eccentrics like the Duck Lady around downtown. I haven't seen her in a while, but she is usually found with her duck (real) and a basket of fortunes. She used to charge $2 per fortune (don't know if that has changed).
3. Wander through Chinatown looking for the cheapest umbrella. Chinatown is filled with small "dollar store" type shops with lots of interesting finds. Chinatown also has Hong Kong style diners that serve an unusual Asian version of British afternoon tea that is more of a full meal than an afternoon snack.
   

Happy Travels! :)

Anny Chih

Photo Credits:
Japadog http://www.schemamag.ca/archive2/2008/03/japa_dog_perkily_perfect_hotdo.html
Vancouver Club Scene http://vancouverclubsandbars.com/
Vancouver Flea Market http://www.bearspage.info/h/tra/ca/bc/va.html

Canadians Sure Can Sing

If you're travelling to a new destination, a good way to get to know the people you're about to meet is to listen to their music. Sumi, Quatchi and Miga agree (and Muk Muk too). ;)

The world will be coming to Vancouver for the upcoming 2010 Olympics, so we thought it'd be nice to share a Canadian playlist with you in preparation. Keep in mind, Canada has loads of great artists who have tons of fabulous songs and we couldn't very well list everything. So, this is an assortment of classics, new music, and super Canadian tunes. Enjoy!

Our Ultimate Canadian Playlist
(in no particular order)

Home For a Rest - Spirit of the West (If you're going to a pub that plays live music during the Olympics, learn this song!)
Les Etoiles Filantes - Les Cowboys Fringants (French)
Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
Pinch Me - Barenaked Ladies (in case you didn't know, they're not actual naked - nor are they ladies)
Camilo (The Magician) - Said the Whale (we thought we'd throw in an up-and-coming Vancouver-based band - you heard it here first!)
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Leaving on a Jet Plane - Chantal Kreviazuk
Free - Jann Arden
I'm Like a Bird - Nelly Furtado
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down) - Great Big Sea
Hasn't Hit Me Yet - Blue Rodeo
Benediction - The Weakerthans
50 Mission Cap - The Tragically Hip
Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan

If you're coming to Canada for the first time, you should also watch this CLASSIC commercial: Molson Canadian's I Am Canadian.




Anny Chih

PS If you're interested in catching some concerts during the Olympics, check out The Straight for free concert listings. A few of the artists in our playlist will also be playing in Vancouver next month!