Overnight in NYC pt. 1: The Hotel

Chris and I were planning a trip to the temple in April, so we decided to go when my parents were in town. We were just going to go up for the day, but I thought it would be a nice treat after the semester ended to be able to stay overnight. We were going to stay with a friend in Brooklyn so that we didn't have to spend money on a hotel, but about 3 days before our trip I got an email from Hotwire about a hotel in Manhattan for ridiculously cheap. We booked it and were super excited to be able to stay within walking distance to all the stuff we wanted to do!

We took the train so that we wouldn't have to pay for tolls or parking. We left the station by our apartment complex and took that to Trenton, NJ. Then from Trenton we got on a train to NY Penn Station! The train was a lot nicer than I expected and we lucked out with an express train. It only took about an hour from Trenton to NYC!

It was a double decker train and we sat on the top deck so that we could see out. This bridge was interesting. It says "Trenton Makes the World Takes." Apparently Trenton is a pretty industrious city? 

It was a lot prettier of a train ride than I expected. Part of me was hoping to see more of NYC, but once we got to Seacaucus, NJ we went underground and couldn't see anything. Walking off the train and into Penn Station was surreal. It was so crowded with people bustling around all over the place. We stopped to get a Jamba Juice (we don't have one close to us in Philly, so it was a special treat!) and then figured out where we were going. I had directions for each place that I wrote down ahead of time, which really helped figure out the subway system. We had to run in order to make a few trains and at one point our train had to board another train due to a mechanical error, so it was packed with people. It felt like a true initiation into New York City. We got to Grand Central Station and then started walking to our hotel! We saw so many people in suits - SO MANY - having drinks or coffee after work. It was insane. Our hotel was in Midtown and about a 10 minute walk from Grand Central Station. It was called The Alex Hotel, but when we got there we realized that Wyndham just purchased the property. So now it's probably called the Wyndham followed by some number. That's how they usually go. Anyway, here we are in front of our hotel!

I couldn't believe it when we walked inside. We really lucked out! We thought we were going to get a cheap, teeny tiny room and we ended up having a 1 bedroom suite with a fully equipped kitchen. Too bad we were only going to be in the room for about 8 hours to sleep!

Here is the bedroom:

And here is the living area:

And the kitchen:

The bathroom was pretty small, but it was nice to see some really good shampoos and lotions for us. This brand will always remind me of our honeymoon because we bought some of it at Sephora in Downtown Disney.