Stay-cation: Tourist For A Day/Shapely

Today's activities for my NYC stay-cation started on the subway.  On any given day there are many people on the subway who are speaking a language other than English, tourists and New Yorkers alike.  I usually don't even really notice it, but today, there were several conversations going on around me in Spanish, French and an unidentified language so it was hard to miss.  I loved it.  I just closed my eyes and pretended I was somewhere else...France, Spain, China, who knows!  A perfect way to start my stay-cation day.

My first stop was Times Square. Now if you knew me, you would know that I despise Times Square.  Don't take this the wrong way, but it's just too crowded (mostly tourists) and you literally can't get anywhere if you try to walk through there with a destination in mind.  When I am a tourist in another city I am certain that I walk equally as slow, stopping to take pictures, looking, pointing and just downright sauntering and enjoying myself.  That's what tourists do.  But when you are not a tourist, and are trying to get from point A to point B, trust me, don't try to cross through Times Square.  And don't even get me started about how bad it is around the holidays.

So anyway, since I am on a stay-cation I thought why not act like a real tourist.  Plus, I wanted to get out and play around with my camera and some new apps I got for my iPhone.  I heard about a new public art display smack in the middle of Times Square, and thus it became my destination.  "Cool Water, Hot Island" is by Brooklyn artist Molly Dilworth.  A gorgeous blue "river" is literally painted on Broadway between 42nd and 47th Streets in the pedestrian mall area.

(taken with my digital SLR)

It's pretty cool, but I was a little underwhelmed by it after seeing a bunch of aerial shots of the street that were way more impressive.  Alas, I don't have a helicopter nor do I know anyone who works in one of the buildings looking down upon it. 

After surviving Times Square I decided to walk around and see what else looked interesting.  I saw this sign and was drawn in by the huge circular M&Ms.  I thought it would be a good image for The Sunday Creative prompt this week, which is "shapely".  (Oh, and please note: I had no idea there even was an M&M store, and I was a little appalled by it.  That's all I am going to say about that).  I used two different iPhone apps:

(taken with new "film" for Hipstamatic app)

(taken with Plastic Bullet app)

Still with "shapely" on my mind, I passed by this voluptuous statue on my way back to the subway.  I couldn't resist.

(taken with Format 126 app)

And yes, I did get some strange looks from  people and I am sure I was walking too slowly, but I didn't care because I was a tourist for the day!

See what else is shaping up over at