After staying up for the longest day in my vacation history, we got up at 8:00 a.m. to start heading back towards Philly. For some reason I was still energetic with only 3.5 hours of sleep. =P

The weather in Atlantic City seemed to have turned colder overnight. There was literally no one on the streets when we checked out of the hotel. We took a jitney bus towards the station, then had to walk a few blocks to get to the entrance. It was incredibly windy and even with a thick winter coat, I was not looking forward to taking the train.

The first train we got on took about an hour to get to the Pennsauken Transit Centre. The station was completely deserted when we arrived. We had to wait outdoors for our next train to take us to the Adventure Aquarium. We ended up taking the wrong train initially (there’s only one set of tracks and one platform at the station), so we had to wait for another twenty minutes out in the cold before we got on the correct train. (T__T)

I was freezing by the time we arrived at the aquarium. We got to the entrance and exchanged our City Passes, then tried to find out where to store our carry ons. However, they didn’t have lockers that would fit our luggage, so we ended up wheeling them along with us throughout the aquarium. Haha

The aquarium is divided into four zones, so we started off by going through Zone D. The hippos were probably the cutest thing inside, although all the exhibits were really fun and interactive. We stopped partway through to grab lunch. I was still trying to thaw off from the cold as I inhaled my hamburger. However the cafeteria was right above the front doors, and each time the door opened there would be a gust of wind that drafted up towards us. I was still shivering by the time I finished eating.

After lunch we continued exploring the rest of the zones. I stepped outside to see the penguins (and pretty much dashed back in immediately after snapping a pic). There were also tanks to touch sharks and stingray. We finished moving through the aquarium, then stopped briefly to take photos of the Philadelphia skyline from across the Delaware River. Then we hopped back onto the train to take us towards Philly again.

My energy was starting to wan after we finishing checking in. Our dinner reservations weren’t until later that evening, so we took advantage of the free time to hit the shops before most of them closed at 6:00 p.m. We first went inside the stores at Liberty Place, then spent some time at a zakka shop called Omoi. Finally since we couldn’t take the cold any more, we pretty much waited inside a Starbucks till it was time for dinner at Parc. =P

Parc was our last meal at Philly. My sister and I started off with an escargot appetizer, then I ordered their duck confit as a main. We topped it off with their maple bread pudding for dessert.

We pretty much called it an early night after we headed back to hotel. Since we only had the morning to spend in Philly the next day, we had to strategically plan our route. After getting everything in place, we finally tucked in and went to bed. One more vacation entry to go!