Thanks for sharing. Have you made this journey before then? If so, I'd love to know what you got up to during your short time in Manhattan. I agree with your comment about the train, by the way- it's so simple and I have no idea why more tourists don't take advantage of the great public transport options!
Do you usually stay at the same hotel? We've always stayed at The New York Palace in Midtown but in April we did a split stay and tried out the Andaz Wall Street, which was just awesome.