Ridiculous security

Security has not been a big issue, but there has been some annoyances :-)

The first days we waited about 20 minutes to get into the speed skating and the cross-country venues, but since then it has gone a lot smoother. The biggest annoyance has been that the rules are practiced very differently at the different venues, and the luggage check has been quite different from venue to venue. Which means you never know what to expect, and you never know if you can actually bring "illegal" items, like food, water, bottle-caps and coins, into the venues :-)

Some of the security rules are a laugh as well. You are not allowed to bring coins into the venue - for security reasons. But they still give coins as change when you buy something at the merchandise store or the snack points. Not to mention those who sell the daily Olympic Program (which is actually a special version of the Gazetta del la Sport) for 1 dollar. They would have a problem if people were not allowed to bring coins.

But the most ridiculous thing happened on our last day in Torino. We spent most of the day in Torino before going to speed skating and ice hockey. We visited one of the Olympic Stores to buy some souvenirs, and Jeroen bought a mug, among other things. When our luggage was checked at the Oval Lingotto he was not allowed to bring this mug into the venue ...

The ridiculous part was the fact that the Merchandise Store inside the venue sold the same kind of mugs! When Jeroen went back to the security check to point this out, they didn't believe him. After checking it out for themselves, they decided to remove the mugs from the Merchandise Store!

Luckily, the mug was still in the box for disallowed items when we left the venue.