ASTOR PLACE, BETWEEN LAFAYETTE STREET & COOPER SQUARE

 

It’s always a delight when Sami and Yuri visit me in NYC, it’s a real treat.

They don’t come often but when they visit I know an extraordinary adventure

or unreal event always awaits me.

To document whatever we might encounter, I convince my accomplished

photographer friend René, to accompany us and capture the goings-on

in a Kardashian reality show manner.

Sami likes to stay at the St. Marks Hotel not far from where I live. Sami wrote

this review in TripAdvisor:

We stayed at St. Marks this past weekend. Had a blast! It is in an excellent

location within walking distance of many great places such as Soho,

Canal Street, and of course my friend Marwan. The rooms are small, but very

neat and clean. Who really hangs out in the hotel room in New York anyway?

It served its purpose... a place to lay your head for a few hours and clean up!!!

This is my go-to hotel anytime I visit NYC.

P.S. They do offer more than just porn and cartoons on the TV. Not sure what

that was all about in some of the older reviews. LOL...

Anywho, we decided to all meet at 12pm at the Astor Place subway entrance.

I can’t help but take note of all that is taking place around me. I listen to the

magical sound of an aspiring musician playing just outside the subway

station: “…Mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom let it be

let it be…”

There are all variations of characters here: The loony lonely disciplinarian

with a speech impediment banging on a window to be heard, an investigative

reporter looking for a breaking story, a cape-clad Charlie Sheen wannabe.

I turn hungrily taking it all in and there stand Sami and Yuri, smiles of pure

joy greet me.