Tian'Anmen Square & Wafujing

As part of my 365 days in Beijing, not all blogs will be long. Many just informing.
During my TEFL course I met a sweet Irish lass named Tara. Tara works ten or so hours away in Suzhou, in the southeast corner of China, whereas I am in the north.
Lucky for me, Tara and her two friends came to visit Beijing Wednesday. We spent the day being tourists and having a grand 'ol time.
We hit Tian'anmen Square first.
You all know the name Tian'anmen.
The Massacre of 1989.
That's about all you or anyone else does know about this place.
Little information was released about this tragedy. Classroom rule number one in China: never mention Tian'anmen.
Tian'anmen Square is actually a square in the center of Beijing. It is the largest open, public space in the world, rounding in at 180 acres.
You may have also heard of The Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City is Tian'Anmen Square. Quite a common confusion. The Forbidden City lies within Tian'Anmen Square. You see?
Completed in 1420, the Forbidden City served as the imperial palace for the Ming Dynasty through Qing Dynasty.
Now, inside of the Forbidden City is the remains of the 950-plus buildings and a Palace Museum which houses all artifacts and collections from the dynasty days.
I can't say I learned much because on a budget life we opted out of guided headsets fro the day and decided ignorance suited us better. On another day I'll return and gain more knowledge of the Square and the City.
For now, I took some pictures, of course, and enjoyed a nice walk through the beautiful architecture. Just because I was clueless about everything I saw, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.
In Beijing, as you know, pollution is a real issue and smog is the bane of my existence some days. Makes your mood gloomy. Lucky for us, the sky was unbelievably beautiful on Wednesday. This makes for great sightseeing.
After Tian'Anmen we walked a good mile and a half to Wafujing. Wafujing is a famous street for tourists that is known for its souvenirs, hagglers and interesting food selection. By interesting I mean scorpions, cockroaches, starfish, bat, and many other things you'd never consider deep frying. It's a very peculiar sight to see. 
All in all it was a great ay just enjoying being a tourist in my new city. The sky was blue, company was fantastic and as always, I learned a thing or two. :)