New York City, Day Four

By 8:45, everyone was dressed, packed, fed and ready to head for the train station.  One challenge:  rush hour on the D.C. Metro!  We were 23... all with luggage, bags, purses and backpacks.  They were morning commuters in no mood to take us on.  In the end, we tolerated each other enough so that we got on the train with only minor irritations.
 

After a 3 hour, sleep-filled train ride, we pulled into Penn Station with just enough time for a select group to rush onto the subway (led by Mrs. Rogers) and get to the Ed Sullivan Theater in time to see a taping of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  Among the guests were Attorney General Loretta Lynch!  The overwhelming consensus was that it was great.  Those in attendance swear that if you watch the show you'll be able to hear Will Resner's cheering/applause over everyone else!

After the show, the whole group met back up and took the subway down to Little Italy to have dinner.  In typical New York fashion, our reservations were given away to a party of 28.  Ughh.  Luckily, this is a resilient group and we ended up at "Sofia's", one of the most well-known and touted places in all of Little Italy.  The pizza was great, the pasta really tasty, and the accordian player performing a birthday medley for Anna (whose birthday it is not!) and allowing Van to play a song or two was worth every penny. 

Finally, we rode the subway back to our hotel (mid-town, 36th street, two blocks from the Empire State Building) where we're settling in for the night.  Tomorrow we'll go downtown to see the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Trinity Church, Federal Hall, 9/11 Museum, and take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.... all before seeing Broadway at night.