Center City

Philadelphia has many pasts, but if you're interested in its present and future, head for Center City. This is Philly's business district, anchored by Oz-like skyscrapers and solidly Victorian City Hall, which is crowned by the enormous statue of William Penn. From Chinatown to Rittenhouse Square, Center City is crammed with sights. A sample? How about the Academy of Music; that leviathan horn of plenty, the Reading Terminal Market; the bustling Pennsylvania Convention Center; Thomas Jefferson University (home to Philly's greatest painting, Thomas Eakins's Gross Clinic); and for those with itchy credit cards, the Shops at Liberty Place.