davidnielsen's blog

Now that the spectacular Closing Ceremony is over, it’s time to sort through all the stuff I’ve accumulated over the past three weeks and decide what needs to be in the carry-on bag, what gets crammed into the checked luggage, and what junk doesn’t make the cut and becomes gifts for the cleaning crew.

OK, the Closing Ceremony has had its share of slow speeches. But don't worry - there is plenty of entertainment.

I can't remember what else is on TV Sunday nights back home. But I can't imagine that it's any better than this.

Supposedly the guy who choreographed the Opening and Closing Ceremony is the director of "House of Flying Daggers," a movie featuring stunning visuals.

Steven Spielberg was supposed to help with the ceremonies here, but he pulled out to protest some of China's policies.

Trust me. They don't miss him one bit.

Giant floating drums

Hundreds of elaborately costumed dancing girls

Acrobats, musicians, and stunning fireworks

Oh, we're only nine minutes into the show.

Every night before the track competition, an Olympic promotional commercial played on the big screen at the Bird’s Nest.

They just showed it again before the Closing Ceremony.

The commercial featured a Greek sage talking to various athletes with names like “The Invincible Man” and “Flying Girl.”

Four years ago in Athens, the security procedures became markedly more lax as the end of the Games drew near.

Not so here. If anything, they've tightened the security.

Our bags are run through X-ray machines every time we leave our media village. The last two days they have asked to inspect my bag.

One time they had to look closely at my spare batteries.

I’ve seen some folks working at jobs here that would be very hard to fill in America.

I saw one man squatting and reaching underneath a fence with clippers to trim the grass on the other side.

I saw another man dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit and wearing a mask who swept the shoulder of a highway with an old, ratty broom.

When we return home next week, somebody is bound to ask if we ate Peking Duck.

Now we can yes, thanks to the Quanjude Yayuncun Roast Duck Restaurant.

We didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out that the restaurant is part of a Chinese chain of duck restaurants that was founded in 1864.

We went for lunch and were the only Westerners in the spacious place.

The folks with the Beijing Olympic Committee Organizing Committee (BOCOG) thought of everything.

BOCOG came up with a way to make flags wave when they reach the top of the flagpoles during medal ceremonies.

I won an Olympic medal today.

NBC was nowhere in sight.

There weren’t any photographers present, either, so I took my own picture of the medal later.

There was no elaborate medal ceremony. I didn’t stand on a podium, and there was no national anthem.

All I did was show my Olympic photo badge, sign a form and accept the medal from a gracious volunteer.