Back on the 9:00 train for the last time and easily switched to a subway at Penn Station. We are pros now and quickly swipe our cards, enter the station and often glide onto the subway.
Quite a change from our rush trip from Empire State Building to Brooklyn a few days earlier. That night we had thirty minutes to get to the restaurant and in our tired rush, ran into a station, lost our confidence about our choice and pushed back through the exit. BIG MISTAKE! The one condition of our subway cards is that they can not be used again for twenty minutes (to avoid handing it to someone else). Turned out it was the right station but when we tried to reswipe our cards, we all got the same "Invalid" message. The thought of missing our special dinner was too much. Ron made a split decision and just lifted his long legs over the turnstiles and went in anyway. He looked back to see us old guys looking blankly back at him! I wasn't worried about the idea of bypassing the gate - I knew we had the cards legitimately. I was worried about getting one leg up over the gate and then having to call security to come unwind me and get me out! Ron thought quickly and hearing the alarm going at a gate around the corner, held it open, shouted at us to come this way! and we all ran through. Turns out, people set off alarms often if they have to move a stroller through and no one pays any attention. So we only lost a few minutes and learned a few more lessons.
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