Gossip Girl tour 101

I'm a fan of Gossip Girl. Really, only recently. 

My BFF, Julie, recommended it as a good Netflix show to watch as I was deeply immersed in studying at home for several weeks in January. She was right. It's terrific melodrama, with fun outfits, plotting, scheming, redemption, scenes of New York City, and some dreamy leading men.

So, while in NYC it was only natural that Julie and I hit a few Gossip Girl hotspots. 

• Empire Hotel -- Owned and operated by hearthrob (and my personal favorite) Chuck Bass, Empire is actually just a completely regular, Manhattan hotel near Columbus Circle. They have a rooftop bar and a bar on the first floor (which had Gossip Girl cocktails, but said those were coming off the menu soon). We had drinks in both bars. The first floor bar was a little slutty, by my judgement: animal print pillows, velvet upholstery, moody lighting. The service was fine, but there were some families hanging out which wasn't very Gossip Girl. The rooftop bar had great views, decent service and a similarly pricy drink list. It's worth a stop if you like Gossip Girl, and if you don't swanky bars are still worth a stop for views, ambiance and beverages.
• Ice Skating -- We picked a spot in Central Park for ice skating that just happened to have been featured in Gossip Girl. Seriously, it was next to the NQ Line stop near Central Park. It was lovely and took us quite a while to even figure out that it was Gossip Girl place. Anyway, skating was fun, but expensive. 
• Plaza food court -- This is not ever featured on Gossip Girl, but I think it should be. It's the swankiest food court I've ever been to. Delicious. We went to the Todd English side -- sat at the bar. We had beers, a flatbread pizza and lobster hushpuppies (which are more amazing than they sound). Afterward we grabbed a slice of crepe cake (cake made with crepes layered between pastry cream... dreamy!) on the way out. Divine. 
• Met Steps -- This is a key Gossip Girl spot. And we were not far away. But it was a Monday when most museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, are closed. It's nice to walk along Central Park anyway and sitting on the sets of the Met (the ones that aren't under construction) was an easy Gossip Girl stop.

This might rank highly on the stupidest things I've ever written, but these are still reasonable stops if you've never heard fo Gossip Girl. NYC has it all -- for Gossip Girl fans and otherwise.