I love wandering around looking at the architecture, soaking in the sights, smells and sounds of a new place.
What often happens though, for me at least, is that I often wander around aimlessly not really having any idea what I am looking at or it's significance (like that one time I stumbled across 10 Downing St in London and had no idea!). That's why I love doing short little tours within the city. It helps me to find my bearings and get knowledge of the area from a local.
As a big time TV and Movie watcher I was eager to get out and explore all the famous places I had been watching on screen for years and see them in real life. An On Locations Tour was the perfect way to do this. They have many tours to chose from to suit everybody's needs and interests but to cover all my favourite movie and television shows I went with the NYC TV & Movie Tour.
We started our day by meeting at Ellen's Stardust Diner, where all the waitstaff are aspiring broadway actors and actresses who will sing and entertain you while you dine. We travelled around the city in a coach and watched scenes from all the TV shows and movies whilst driving past and visiting the areas.
New York City is the most filmed city in the world with anywhere between 13 to 30 projects being filmed at any given time. We did not see any filming in action but if you are lucky, you might.
Central Park is the most filmed location in New York City and it's easy to see why when you've seen the size and magnificent features of this man made park. Date Night, Home Alone - Lost in NY, When Harry met Sally, Elf, Sex and the City and Enchanted are just some of the over 300 movies that were filmed there.
The first of our 3 stops on the tour was at Washington Square Park which is a very popular location in Greenwich Village. It played a major role in the film I am Legend with Will Smith, with the apartment he lived in in the movie right across the street. The archway and fountain also made and continues to make appearances in shows such as Friends, Glee, Gossip Girl and Blue Bloods.
And right across the street is the apartment building where Will Smith's character lived in I am Legend.
The second stop was at Hook and Ladder 8 Fire Station which you may recognize from the original Ghostbusters as well as the opening scene from Will Smith's movie Hitch.
Our third and final stop was probably the one I was looking forward to the most, the Friends apartment building. I will admit to being an absolute Friends tragic, having seen every episode and have been known to quote a line or two from time to time. It was at this point that our guide also gave us a bit of a lesson in trick photography (or should that be camera work) as I had always thought the building was a lot bigger than it actually is.
In between stops we spent time on the bus watching clips from the TV Shows and Movies and driving past a lot of the buildings.
Whilst I thought that I would spend more time off the tour bus than on it, the stops we made were great ones as they were in areas of the city I probably would not have gotten to otherwise. A lot of the other major places were within easy walking distance from the city centre, and with the handy information booklet I was given at the end of the tour it was easy for me to go back and find them myself.
So if you are visiting New York City and have a passion for TV Shows and Movies then I can personally highly recommend On Locations Tours. To see a full list of what they have to offer, times, prices etc please click here.
Linking up with Agent Mystery Case, My Brown Paper Packages, With Some Grace and A Brit and a Southerner
*NOTE: I received a complimentary tour from On Location Tours, however, as always, all opinions are my own.
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