Sex and the city

I was looking forward to my tour today and curious about how it play would out. I would pre booked a ticket on the official Sex and the City tour of NYC. I am glad I had booked ahead because with the release of the movie it has been a lot busier. The tour focuses mainly on the TV show, I guess because the movie is still quite new. To get on the tour we are to meet at the fountains outside of The Plaza hotel on 5th Ave. Funnily enough this is a spot featured on the show during a pivotal Carrie and Big moment. The Plaza hotel isn’t actually a hotel anymore as it was sold off as apartments several years ago. I would imagine the prices of those apartments would be huge giving they are on 5th and overlook Central Park. Wishful thinking.

I can spot the tour group straight away from the fact that i turn up and it’s 95% female, and 5% men who are tagging along with their partners. There is more people than I hadn’t anticipated, like 40 people. The tour is led by a young woman who is a native New Yorker and writes comedy and screen plays as her other job. So as you can imagine she’s very funny and quickly lets rip on the swear words, explaining that they swear on the show so it’s no surprise. She asks where everyone is from and many people reply saying they are Australian. She told us that the tour is really popular with Aussie.s I think it would have something to do with the fact that it’s in the Qantas Holidays book, not that the show is crazy popular in Australia.

The tour starts off with the tour guide showing us some clips from the show. We quickly move down the road and she points out all the places featured on Sex and the City and clearly there are stacks. Starting with Tiffany’s, then Gucci, and everything in between. Every place she points out is followed with the clip from the show where it appears which is really cool. We then go see the church where Samantha met ‘Frier Fuck’ and we start to head down to areas around Union Square where we are pointed out to parks where Miranda takes Brady and Miranda tells Carrie she’s pregnant etc etc. We make our first stop in Greenwich Village at The Pleasure Chest. I felt it was an odd place to stop at but I guess it’s one of only a few places they can. This is the sex shop the girls went to when Charlotte bought the Rabbit. Funny thing is people actually bought Rabbits when we were there. Not something I would be doing. After 10 minutes there viewing some very interesting products we get back on the bus and check out SoHo and the Meatpacking District. These areas were popular for the bar scenes and Samantha’s place in the Meatpacking District. Gyms and juice bars were also used, plus we see the gallery where Charlotte worked. During the tour the tour guide gives us facts on each of the actresses and of the show which is good to hear as I didn’t know it all.

We then get to SoHo and near Perry St. Perry St is home to Carries apartment and her famous stoop. Prior to getting off the tour guide hands around a sheet that states you cannot take photos, you have to be quiet, you cannot sit on the stoop and the list goes on. The tour guide tells us that when they started the tour 10 years ago people used to get photos on the stoop. Eventually the residents got really sick of it, understandably after all that time and you can now only walk to the place and stay on the other side of the road. The tour runs every day of the year except Xmas, and twice a day so you can see why the residence got sick of it! So all we can do is walk near the stoop. The owner even has a sign out the front saying stay out, plus a chain across the stoop. So, disappointingly we only quickly look and move on. Just around the corner is Magnolia Bakery. A cupcake store made famous by the show. As part of the tour we all get a cupcake. I noticed the bakery has scaffolding all around it. I kid you not, almost every landmark I have wanted to photograph is getting renovated, it’s a joke. You’ll notice so many of my pics depict this! So the cupcake was good. Pitt St Cupcakes is better, but still good. I buy another one to go and we get back onto the bus. More spots are pointed out along the way with clips relevant to the site, and our tour guide keeps it funny along the way.

Our last stop is O’Neal Speakeasy bar. On Sex and the City, this was known as Scout. Aidan’s bar on Mulberry St. Speaking of Aidan, the tour guide asks the group if Carrie should have ended up with Big or Aidan and the bus was split almost 50/50. I voted Aidan. We go to the bar where they offer cheap Cosmopolitans to purchase. I elect not to get one and just chill. We are only there for about 20 minutes and then off again. The tour checks out a couple more places then we are dropped off at 42nd street, very close to my hotel to finish up the tour. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to any Sex and the City fans (Sacha, you’d love it!)

Tonight I met up with Brandon, a guy I had met a couple of nights earlier at Madam Tussauds. I met up with him in Times Square where he would then take me to somewhere I bit more ‘local’ as I was starting to get over the crowds of Times Square. The weather was dodgy and it had rained lightly whilst I was on the tour during the day so I feared it might rain later on. We ended up an outdoor Mexican restaurant just off Times Square. Unfortunately, due to the weather they weren’t taking bookings. This probably turned out to be a good thing as it did end up raining about 5 minutes later. Funny thing whilst there, I hear a guy behind me in the crowd upon hearing they were closing say; ‘oh that’s faarked’. Gotta love an Aussie, he was from Bris Vegas and it was that kind of response I have missed whilst being over here.

So we go and find somewhere else to eat and end up at Can Cun Mexican restaurant. The restaurant was really good in the end. We moved onto a dive bar near by that’s only distinguishable by the giant pig statue out the front. We stay there for a bit enjoying $7 jugs of Bud and chatting to the local bar flies. A couple of hours later I call it a night and head back to the hotel. I don’t expect to see Brandon again but it was good to get a local perspective from someone who lives in NYC.

What I learnt today in NYC:

• The crowds in Times Square really piss me off. It’s mainly tourists and they meander at such a slow rate it peeves someone like me who likes to keep a move on.
• To live like the women on Sex and the City you’d need to have A LOT of money. From seeing the places they went to, the bars and restaurants alone would be costing a pretty penny.
• I don't care how many times i see it, it's still stupid how guys were the stickers and tags on their hats cause it looks 'fresh'.

Magnolia Bakery.

The Pleasure Chest, where Charlotte bought her Rabbit.

A shot of the houses near where Carrie's was. You can see the similarity.

O'Neal's Speakeasy, aka Aidan's bar, Scout.

With Brandon at the dive bar.

With local bar fly Pete. Pete served in the Vietnam war, and told us he'd lost 5 of his friends in the past two weeks. He felt very fortunate to still be here!