Haven't I seen that on "Friends"...?

Yes, you probably have...

Most of what you see in New York is familiar to you because you've seen it all before on the television or in films. You can walk round almost any corner and see one of those iconic shots that they slip in for a few seconds to remind you that you're there, even though it's all filmed in a studio in Hollywood.

Friends is a perfect example because it's littered with them... (You can do those accompanying bits of "Ross and Rachel on a break...", "Phoebe slightly weird..." incidental music in your head as you look at them...)



North up 5th Avenue, 16 blocks to Broadway and the Flatiron Building, another 10 blocks to the Empire State Building and another 11 blocks north (and a couple west) to Times Square....



Washington Square Garden (it's rectangular, but is a garden) with its miniature Arc de Triomphe, a staple of the Friends library shots. But you can watch 10 series (on E4 over the course of about a week, probably) and not see any of them actually walking past any of these places.

And, of course, the corner of Bedford and Grove Streets in Greenwich Village.

("Where?" I hear both readers asking...)

You see you'll recognise it now...



It's their apartment building. No honestly, it is...

When you are there, it doesn't look much like it, but that's 'cos you've only ever seen it in 2-D. It was only when I looked at the photo on the digital camera screen that I was sure we were in the right place.

If you just want a sit down and a coffee when you get there, what you might expect some telly-savvy entrepreneur to have rebranded as Central Perk is actually still the very bijou and refined Little Owl restaurant.

So take a flask.