A New Hope for Sydney: Beijing Day 1

Today was our first day touring Beijing and we had a wonderful time! We are exhausted but it was a great day. We toured Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and went on a Hutong tour.
The Forbidden City is beautiful with all it's different palaces and courtyards. The prettiest area was definitely the garden. We ate lunch at a local restaurant with our guide Flora. The food was excellent. We had Kung Pao Chicken, rice and beef dumplings (pot stickers). I (Angela) even tried it all, and if you know how picky I am, that definitely speaks volumes.
After lunch, I had my first experience with a Chinese public restroom! I was prepared though. I had toilet paper and seat covers. However, there were no lights in there, and I couldn't figure out how to flush the toilet and ended up ringing an alarm! I quickly exited and we walked on down the street. Oops!
We then went on a Hutong tour. Hutong is a very old area in Beijing with homes and shops but the streets are very narrow, only one lane. On this tour we rode in a rickshaw which is a carriage that is pulled by a bicycle. On this tour we got to go into a private family's home and see how people live here in Beijing. The home was beautiful and had an inner courtyard. The lady of the house played a song on a Zither, which is a Chinese instrument.
Now we are back at the hotel and will venture out to dinner and to a market to pick up some snacks and drinks for our room.
Here are some pictures of our day, enjoy....