The Pennsylvania Hotel is a dump. I guess the rooms have the basics... except dressers. It would be nice to have dressers, so we could unpack our suitcases. Which we can't. By the end of the stay the insides of the suitcases were so rummaged through that we had to dump everything out and repack. But besides having the basics (except dressers), the rooms are small, old, and dirty.
On the good side, the elevators are fast and always available. The ice machine always has ice. It's always warm even though we don't run the heat. Heck, it's usually too warm. Getting Housekeeping to leave washcloths and handtowels is a challenge that requires constant telephone calls, but getting Maintenance to come up are rewrire the antiquated four-contacts-hand-wired terminal for a computer jack only took a few minutes.
It is a dump. But it's our dump. And the location is pretty good: Midtown -- a tad south of Midtown, really -- next to Macy's (not a blessing at Christmas, but would be nice the rest of the year), and just a block from the Penn Station subway complex, which makes it easy to get anywhere.
I said the place was dirty.... With windows as dirty as these, who needs curtains? (The window is open about eight inches.)
Oh, yeah, the window is open.... On Thursday we finally figured out how to get the window open. A plus is that it cooled the room. A minus is that all the sounds of the city came in. Or was that a plus, too?
Getting the window open was one thing. Getting it closed was impossible. I left it open. It may still be open today, for all I know.
On Wednesday morning the hotel and I had an adventure: I was going down in the elevator, to get something at the store. Judi had stayed behind. Suddenly a recorded voice said, "This elevator is now under fire control, going to main level. Exit building immediately." My first thought was... well, it wasn't a thought. It was PANIC! what's judi going to do??? She doesn't even know where the stairs are??? She'll be worried about what to take??? Where things are??? I was so worried for her. False alarm.