The Strib's Olympic team flew overnight on Monday and is now working in the London games Olympic media center for the second day.

I'll be writing columns and features, Rachel Blount will be leading our coverage and Brian Peterson, our venerable and gifted photographer, will be shooting for us.

We'd love for you to keep up with us on startribune.com, but I'd urge you to buy the paper if you're interested in the Olympics. I know the web serves readers well when they're seeking updates and news, but our paper pours a lot of resources into covering events like the Olympics, and I think it's a much more rewarding read if you get to see the way the paper is put together and the full scope of our coverage.

So far, I have to say I feel pretty privileged to be covering these games and the people about whom I've gotten to write. Lindsay Whalen, Hugh McCutcheon and Kara Goucher are all fascinating and driven people, and I'll have features about Kelci Bryant, Alise Post and Megan Kalmoe appearing in the coming days, and Rachel has done exhaustive work on many of our other locals.

Today I'm off to explore London with Brian, while Rachel leads our news coverage of the runup to the games.

This is my first time in London, and I love the city. I don't know if I've ever been in a city so big that is also so distinctive and quaint.

I'll be checking in periodically with this blog and on Twitter (I'm at @Souhanstrib), but our most extensive work will be in the paper and at startribune.com.