Washington & Philadephia

Stefonius wrote:
I would actually recommend taking the train to either DC or Philly. Parking (in Philly at least) is a drag, but you can come in by train and get a day pass to ride SEPTA trains, buses, subways and the "EL", which will take you to anything you want to see in the city.

This is not a bad suggestion. Amtrak comes right up into Philly at 30th Street Station, which is on the far western side of the center city area along the Schuylkill River, and Indep. Hall/Lib. Bell et cet are all more or less straight across town, down Market Street, along the Delaware. You can almost SEE Constitution Hall from 30th Street. Almost. :) However, it is confusing sometimes, since Philly is one of the few places where the subway runs above ground in spots. Last time I was in C/C (Dec 2011, admittedly) they were tearing up all the underground commuter area under City Hall at 15th/16th Street, so it made it difficult to get around - we kept having to come up to street level and then go back down again.

If you look at a Google Maps of the center city Philly area, you'll see that it's a straight shot from 30th Street Station to Independence Mall - it's actually not all that bad if you just hop a cab, either. I think I/M is between 5th and 6th Street. Much of the 'historical' stuff is down around there to. Back up towards center city is City Hall, The Franklin Institute, the Art Museum/B. F. Parkway, etc.

Traffic is not usually nearly so crazy as I've seen in other large cities, but parking can be expensive, as noted.