Philadelphia

Philadelphia is where the United States was invented. The Declaration of Independence was signed at Independence Hall, in a room since restored to its 1776 appearance, green table covers and wooden chairs in place. Around it run cobbled streets and red-brick houses, including the tiny Betsy Ross House. The city also lives at the table: under the beams of an old train shed, Reading Terminal Market lines up Amish stalls, bakeries and counters where the cheesesteak is eaten standing. The steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art became famous through Rocky, and the collection at the top of them is one of the finest in the country. On the edge of town, the trails of Wissahickon Valley Park follow a creek through deep woods. A little further out, the glasshouses and fountains of Longwood Gardens cover hundreds of acres. And an hour away, the planks of the Atlantic City Boardwalk run six kilometres along the ocean.