Well, the Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics didn't disappoint anyone.

Spectacular, stunning, exhilerating.

Anna Goodale, the gold medal-winning rower from Camden, said, simply, "All I know is that it was absolutely spectacular.''

Now I don't want to give away too much, so I won't say too much beyond showing you some photos.

But things you should know:

Yes David Beckham is/was there (he was also at the U.S. men's gold medal basketball victory earlier, drawing huge cheers when his face showed up on the scoreboard). I guess you could say we were hanging out together in Beijing.

So is/was Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. And British pop star Leona Lewis. What a duet!

And a double-decker bus.

And a human tower.

And upside-down drummers.

Got your interest?

Well, then, here are some photos:

Security was tight, starting two blocks away. And these guards were ever-vigilant:

Maybe I just miss home too much. But as I was walking, I looked down and, boy, does this stone on the ramp leading to the stadium look like Maine or what?

You know me with mascots. Here's Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini:

We started with a bang. Fireworks, what else?

Yes, those drummers are suspended, some upside-down, over more drummers:

The flags of over 200 nations circle the platform in the middle of the stadium:

Then the athletes came out:

London made its appearance with this double-decker bus, a common site on its streets. Wait till you see what it turns into and who comes out:

Yep, him. Becks, I call him. You know him as soccer great David Beckham. This is as close as I got to him, though.

At 9:25 p.m. Beijing time, the Olympic flame went out:

This tower is people, acrobats, wonderful to watch:

From the tower, this ribbon rose into the night:

And the night ended with more fireworks:

That's it folks. Hope you enjoy watching the Closing Ceremonies. And I hope you enjoyed my words and photos from the other side of the globe.

Next time I talk to you, I'll be back in Maine.

Zai jian.

That's good-bye in Chinese.

Well, counting down the hours until I return home to Maine. Never thought I'd be looking forward to a 14-hour flight, but I am.

Not that this hasn't been grand. But it is time to go home.

I'll catch you up on a few things.

My German buddy, Wolfgang, from Dresden, flew out Sunday morning. I met him Saturday afternoon in the cafeteria at lunch (I had the roast Peking duck, very interesting) and we exchanged addresses and hopes to see each other again. Then we shook hands, hugged and he left.

Apparently, a lot of foreign journalists left Sunday morning, before the upcoming Closing Ceremonies. Not sure why.

My flight is Monday afternoon. And I've been told to get to the airport at least five hours ahead of time, it will be that chaotic.

When I get home, there are a few things I need: a cold glass of milk, a cheeseburger on the grill and a hot fudge sundae (the ice cream here is like thick Cool Whip).

Today, Sunday, I went to the men's basketball gold medal game. What an atmosphere. The crowd was electric, the play was fast and furious. Very physical. The U.S. built the lead, Spain cut it to two midway through the fourth, then the U.S. pulled away, 118-107. The stars # Kobe, LeBron and DWade # were too much down the stretch.

I'm heading over to National Stadium for the Closing Ceremonies. I'm sure they'll close these Olympics in style.

Later.

Some days you have it, some you don't.

Adam Craig realized he didn't have his best Saturday afternoon in the Olympic men's mountain bike cross country race.

He wanted to do well, but not necessarily for himself. Every athlete at these Games knows that if you do well in your sport, there tends to be a boost back in the States. Craig figured if he and teammate Todd Wells put on a good showing, more people might take up mountain biking.

It didn't happen. Craig was credited with a 29th while Wells finished 43rd. And while both were officially credited with finishing the race, both were pulled off the course before they could complete the eight laps.

It's a weird rule. If a rider doesn't complete his lap within 80-percent of the time the leader completes his, they pull the slower rider off the course because they don't want to clog the course. They don't want the lead rider to have to slow down to lap another rider.

Anyway, Craig showed remarkable poise dealing with the media afterward, all wondering just how disappointed this Exeter, Maine, native was. Personally not at all. But he was disappointed on a missed opportunity to give his sport a boost.

So I thought you'd like to see some photos of what it looked like out at Laoshan Mountain Bike Park.

If you weren't under the shade of a tree, you needed some protection from the sun. These fans brought theirs:

Yeah, the mascots are everywhere, here dancing to "Cotton-eye Joe.''

Adam Craig looked pretty relaxed at the starting line …

… considering how crowded it was.

He even found time to slurp this mixture of honey and ginseng:

Once the race was over and we were heading out, I noticed this:

Yep, a ferris wheel. There's a big amusement park next to the cycling venue.

Okay, that's it for today.

One more day and I'm heading home. I'll let you know about the Closing Ceremonies tomorrow night.