There has been a lot of news made of Beijing’s ‘red alert’ for smog, the first ever apparently. We have had the China equivalent of a snow day – three days, this week, when school was shut due to the smog. And it wasn’t that pleasant, as seen from the pictures below, taken from my bedroom window.

But today, the weather was fine and so me and another teacher decided this afternoon to go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We did not actually go inside, as it was closing, and nor did we go to the Square itself, because it was also closed, I suspect for the Azerbaijan President, given the fact that their flag was flying alongside the Chinese one and we got ushered out of the way to make space for someone to go to the Forbidden City. We left before anyone arrived, however. As you can see from the pictures, it was clear skies and sunny (hence, I’m squinting). The building with the arches outside is the National Museum of China.