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Opinion | Postcard from Paris: pay-as-you-eat fridges, phantom trains, and 500 seats for 6,000 people
- In the first of our behind-the-scenes looks at the Olympic Games, Mike Chan pulls back the curtain on the main press centre
Walking into the main press centre at Palais des congrès de Paris a journalist might find themselves in for a surprise a or two, especially if they were at the previous Games in Tokyo three years ago or the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
Located about a 20-minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe, the 18,000 sqm exhibition halls are filled with amphitheatres, conference and meeting rooms as well as a shopping centre at the lower level.
The blue and purple Paris Olympics banners wrapped around the pillars highlight the temporary working space for the world’s media, although those who struggle to get up in the morning will spend some time trying to find a space.
Seats are starting to be occupied just after 11am, with only roughly 500 seats, and even fewer lockers, at 350, available for no less than the 6,000 journalists and photographers who have flocked to the Summer Games, which run until August 11 in the French capital.
The lack of power sockets also makes you wonder if that was part of the environmental-friendly measures visible throughout the well-air-conditioned space.
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Although there are no restaurants in the media centre, there are a few pay-as-you-consume refrigerators filled with salads, sandwiches and pasta in environmentally friendly packages, at the Food Corner. Any drinks come with an Olympics pictogram reusable plastic cup, for a deposit of €2.
