The Hopewell House

For the evening of our second day in NYC, we were originally planning to take a walk through Central Park and then go out for sushi but instead, Ashley's friend Jane (who lives in the city) talked with Ashley and told us she wanted to show us the city view, so we decided we would switch around our planes again.
[and thank goodness we did!]

Jane works for a very wealthy family in the city who own the top floor of one of the taller buildings off of Lexington Avenue near Central Park. On their floor, every single side of their apartment has large open windows that overlooked the entire city. 

Each of the large window had a balcony and we got to go outside and see the entire  span of NYC.

From the view, you could see the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Buidling, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx...

It was so neat!

After we were memorized by the incredible view, we decided to take a run back to our hotel and get ready for some sushi. We wanted to try somewhere good, however, we were facing the dilemma of choosing one option from the multiple sushi options NYC offers. 

I decided to check out Urbanspoon to see what the locals had to say.

I ended up coming across a review for a local Japanese restaurant called Nippon that we decided to give a try. 

When we walked into the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised by the authentic Japanese decor that greeted us, including the fact that the women were dressed in traditional kimonos.  

We were instantly greeted and waited on by such a friendly staff and the owner made a point to come to our table and see how our experience was for the evening.

The owner even brought us special Green Tea treats at the end of our meal that came straight from Japan and were super tasty.

We also found out from the waitress while we were there that Nippon was actually one of the first sushi places in NYC that help to put the Sushi popularity on the map.

I have to say that it was nice to experience a more traditional sushi experience then what we see now with the more modern hype on sushi. 

No frill, just deliciousness.

After dinner, we had plans to meet back up with Jane to see the city once again, but this time from the Marriott Marqui which has a revolving restaurant called The View on their 84th floor of the hotel. 

But first, 

A pit-stop!

My two biggest things on my checklist was visiting Central Park & getting cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. (I have a slight cute cupcake obsession)

So of course, after dinner, this was a must.

My mom decided on a chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing.

Ash chose a chocolate on chocolate cupcake.

I opted for a red velvet cupcake with buttercream frosting x2 (my favorite!)

Oh and believe me,

These cupcakes did not disappoint!

Here's a neat fact for our next stop: The View is NYC's only revolving rooftop restaurant.

After our cupcake excurtion, we finally were able to meet up for drinks with Jane and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the city passing by our eyes.
Within the hour, we had done a complete 360 and a chance to see the city once again in a whole different setting.

It was so beautiful at night with all the lights shining and the experience of rotating while you sat was pretty awesome.

And of course since we once again found ourselves in Time Square,

Do as the tourist do.

This time we opted to take our photo with the Statue of Liberty who ended up being a little bit creepy and surprised us by putting these cheesy hats on our heads.

[thank goodness we stayed lice free]
By the time we finished at the View it was midnight and we were more than ready for bed to get ready for our last day in the city.