The closing ceremony began with a countdown and fireworks and followed stylishly by a group of wheelchair dancers who performed majestically to a classical piece in a colourfully lit stage.
A number of dancers hovered above the stage in jellyfish type costumes and did so to great effect as the arena lit up and their departure saw the entry of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Paralympic president Sir Phillip Craven as the Russian flag was carried to the side stage to the tune of Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony.
The Russian national anthem was sung by a choir as the flag was raised and concluded with a superb firework display.
The next section was called 'Reaching the Impossible' with 500 performers forming a number of colourful shapes using tons of 'moveable blocks'. A skate park was created at the centre of the arena as performers skated and cycled around in an array of colour.
A clever forming of a Tetris style game began in the centre to great effect and was even accompanied by the famous Tetris theme in an amazing spectacle, my highlight of the evening for sure. A superb way to celebrate 30 years of the game that originated in Russia
A selection of aerial performers tipped the hat to the Mission Impossible film series in keeping with the theme with a quirky electronic version of the films famous soundtrack as the word 'Impossible' was stunningly lit up across the arena.
A Russian wheelchair athlete entered the arena and climbed a long rope up the the letters in a spectacular display that saw him knock a part of the word to form 'I'm Possible' which was just simply amazing and shows just what these games are about.
The Flag bearers began to enter the arena from the centre tunnel and GB's newly most successful Winter Olympians, Jade Etherington and her guide Caroline Powell proudly carried the flag as the arena lit up with fireworks as the sky turned a hue of Orange.
The Whang Youn Dai award was presented to two young athletes, Bibian Mentel-Spee of the Netherlands and Toby Kane of Australia as the crowd applauded the efforts of all of the athletes that have competed in this years games.
A group of 210 Cossack dancers enter the stage as the flag bearers depart and a superb routine of criss-crossing and spinning created a colourful and exciting sight. The routine continued with a superb acrobatic piece with a fast-paced display of break dancing at centre stage and and concluded with a stunning parade off the stage.
A tri-coloured heart split to form three groups spelling YPA! - Russian for Hurrah! as the Paralympic anthem played and the Paralympic flag was lowered and carried from the arena.
The Korean anthem played as the flag was raised leading to artistic montage of the handover for PyeongChang 2018 ending with the phrase - PyeongChang Awaits You!
The next section saw a staggering display as an artist painted a canvas of Paralympic sports which was just simply amazing to see as dancers accompanied by a soloist focused around him.
The dance of hope saw a bright display and a superb choral song light up the arena as the celebration of PyeongChang 2018 continued. The arena went dark as a montage of triumph and awe inspiring scenes played and what PeyongChang hopes to repeat in 2018.
The deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Kozak outline the success of a journey hat has taken seven years and thanked all of those who made it possible. He added that everything was made from scratch to transform Sochi into a world class tourist resort and was possible thanks to the entire team of selfless workers.
He thanked the residents of Sochi and Kazan for their support and the investors for their contribution to what will form a great legacy in Russia and the games are over but the good work will continue in Russia.
Sir Philip Craven, the IPC president thanked everyone who made the games special and memorable to a rapturous applause and highlighted that the journey began in 2007 and praised Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation for delivering a record breaking games in many ways and concluded by saying it was the best Paralympic games ever and declared the games closed.
A montage recapping the opening ceremony brought back memories of such an amazingly colourful display that ended with the lighting of the flame cauldron and the arena saw the beginning of the flame extinguishing ceremony.
A lovely song accompanied the extinguishing of the ceremony that gradually disappeared and was concluded with a loud roar from the crowd. The next section saw a wintry scene as dancers entered the arena to an upbeat tune that led to a bouncing routine as performers filled the stage and the ceremony concluding with the return of the 'I'm Possible in English and Russian as the dancers celebrate and a stunning firework display lights up the sky and YPA graces the stage and shows that the Paralympic spirit is alive and well as after a truly inspiring and spectacular nine days.
An amazing ceremony that closes what as been a truly superb month of competing and excitement in both the Olympics and Paralympics and will live in the mind for a long time and I look forward to the next edition in two years as the Summer Olympics graces Brazil so I hope to return to this blog then for what I hope will be a brilliant summer of 2016 in Rio.
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