Lights, Camera, Action!

I started the day off by another planned tour of the NYC sights. I wanted to head downtown to visit the Meatpacking District, Ground Zero, and the new World Trade Centre buildings. I also wanted to take the Staten Island Ferry across to Staten Island so I could get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. All these sights were all walking distance from one another, and besides - I love to walk when exploring places. 

When on the Staten Island Ferry I started talking to two girls, an Aussie and an English girl... the girls kindly took pity on me being solo and suggested taking me to Magnolia Bakery which was on the corner of Bleecker Street. This was the start to the craziest day ever, it felt like I was in Hollywood, not NYC! Magnolia Bakery is a bakery known for it's cupcakes, however for me I mostly knew it from the staring scenes of The Devil Wears Prada & Sex and the City (I was pretty excited!) - the cupcakes were also delicious! After this I was pretty inspired, I was on a mission. After a quick search on my friend Google, I located the actual address of the apartment where Carrie Bradshaw's home was filmed... for those fellow fans out there, it's on 66 Perry St and Bleecker St. *Ok, this is a little irrelevant to my day out, however I just Google Street viewed the apartment - they've actually taken the efforts to blur out the building - (you can see my printscreen below)!* Anyhow, this was very exciting for me, and probably the best sight of NYC, I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but these are my opinions :o) Outside the apartment steps had a chain across the front with a no access sign, to the right was another sign with a description of a charity and a donation box - I thought the donation box was a nice idea! 

After all this excitement I decided I'd take it easy and go for a light salad lunch and a coffee. I saw a cute little restaurant called Cafe Minerva on 4th West Street. When sipping my cappuccino a very interesting man came and sat at the table next to me. A quick introduction later I found myself talking to David Russell. I asked what he did and with an innocent smile he said he was a small time director. I sneakily noted his name down on my iPod notes section to research later - TBC...  When leaving the restaurant I thought I'd go to the Meatpacking District. With my music on full volume, I was oblivious to my surroundings. I was suddenly stopped by a man with a clipboard, he said that where I walked past a shop window, they were filming a scene for Person Of Interest (a U.S. crime drama which I've never heard of). He explained to me that they were filming one of the main characters shopping inside, and ask if I would sign an authorisation form. Of course I said yes, but sadly I forgot to ask if I could be paid :o) Anyway, I then had to walk past the shop with the same crowd of extras over and over (about 6-8 times), so they could "capture the shot". To be, or not to be?... THEN to finalise my day after a hair cut downtown, on my way home through Times Square I walked past 2 familiar faces; Jim's dad from American Pie and Thomas Andrews from Titanic, (IMDB Search - Eugene Levy & Victor Garber). I LOVE this city ♥ When I got home, (again with the help of my friend Google) I researched David Russell. I found out he was not such a small director! In fact he directed Three Kings and The Fighter, pretty cool I thought. 

If you can make out these images above from my nighttime iPod camera of Eugene Levy & Victor Garber, you have great eyesight!!