EVENTS: Taking a ride on the new 'Gossip Girl' bus tour

On Friday we took a little detour and hopped aboard the week-old "Gossip Girl" bus tour. Lured by the promise of 40-plus locations and run by the same people who run the long-running SATC tour, On Location, we eagerly signed up. Here's some highlights from the newbie ride.

12:30pm
A dozen-plus passengers and us waited outside the Palace Hotel to board the 40-seater bus. Out of the group, three are reporters and three are photographers. The other crew hail mainly from Ireland, the Philippines and Sydney, Australia. For the next three and a half hours, we would experience "the playground of privilege prep-school teens." Or at least, that's the sell our tour pamphlet held out.

12:39 pm
Our first stop: The City Museum of New York, aka one of the two outside shots of GG's prep-school. Our tour guide, a Midwestern foot model/actress, informs us that this is the spot of the infamous scene where the in-girls dumped yogurt on Blair. People quickly start taking photos.

12:50 pm
We visit another set of steps: the Met's iconic stairs, where Blair holds lunch court. Sadly, no one actually poses a la GG character on the stairs. However, we do spot an actual high schooler in uniform sitting down. GG is so real.

1:30 pm
Of course, the tour has to stop at Henri Bendel's, the sartorial temple and status symbol for GG's UES girls and season one's Jenny Humphrey. Tour-takers are given a 20 percent discount and 20 minutes to shop, shop, shop. Our favorite area? The very Blair headband display at the back. They even have the same model headband Miss Waldorf wore to Bart Bass' funeral!

2:15 pm
We hit up Grand Central for a quick 10-min gawk and gaze at the majestical ceiling and iconic scene from the very first episode. "Where has she been Serena?" echoes up in our heads. Our tour snaps photos of the grand hall, but the real highlight is overhearing two other random girls not on our tour remark within earshot that they feel like Serena. Can this show be any more popular?

2:45 pm
Getting downtown takes awhile for our large bus in Friday traffic, but we eventually make it to Broome Street, known as the site of Thanksgiving street scene. To pass the time on our ride over here, our tour guide regels us with some GG trivia that we are confident we will never ever forget. For example, did you know that Blake Lively loves Disneyland? And that there are over 200 hundred paid extras in GG? Or that Lily's name was almost going to be Darla? All of this GG gossip has actually made us hungry, so we were happy that the tour includes free frosting shots at the vegan bakery Babycakes (although we kinda are longing for the included Cosmos of the SATC tour). The frosting shots taste a little like a melted Barbie doll head, but on the plus side, our appetite is gone. We hop back on the bus.

3:20pm
Sadly, we do not make an eastern turn after the LES to Brooklyn to the land of Humphrey, but we snaked our way up to Union Square. Along Lafayette, Butter is called out and a few other last minute facts, such as the cost of a day's shooting (up to 60K!), that the actress originally cast to play Blair's mom was fired after the pilot and Blake Lively's unorthodox casting call (come on, we're not going to give everything away).

3:28 pm
After 40-plus location call outs, several stops, trivia tidbits and some choice GG clips, our tour ends. The three-and-a-half hours of pretend tourist time this tour has given us (not to mention the sugar rush of frosting shots and trivia treats) has given us a refreshing break from our daily routine. And as a fan of GG, we are even more "xoxo" over this show.

For more information and to purchase your tour tickets, go to Screentours.com. Tickets cost $38, plus a $2 ticket fee).