You have EARNED a nap, Jessica.

Maybe I can fall asleep on the train. Because as soon as I get home it's off to plead my case for a bigger driveway to the zoning appeals board, yay!

If you're not going to be venturing much past the center of the city, no need for a rental car (and honestly, driving in Philly scares me in a way driving in NYC never did).

Agree on the public transport situation. I mean, it's not the best city for it, but it'll get you around the centre of town (I can spell it centre because THAT'S HOW THEY DO IN PHILLY [link]

I would also agree on the driving, probably, if I'd ever gone driving in NYC. I can say that I'd made up my mind driving there would be ok while being shown some apartments by my estate agent. (I figured if he could reach the age he was while driving like he did, then I should do fine.)

I think Manhattan just makes more sense to me. It really is a grid, except for downtown, and you can't go too far wrong without hitting a river.

I think Manhattan just makes more sense to me. It really is a grid, except for downtown, and you can't go too far wrong without hitting a river.

Hitting a river seems a fairly harsh punishment for getting things wrong. Meanwhile, did you see this paper comparing city grids via a simple infographic? [link] Manhattan is indeed more dedicated to the grid layout than Philly, though the latter is still clearly grid-dominated. (Compare to Boston, for instance.)

There's a follow-up page doing world cities: [link] Unsurprisingly, older cities like Rome and London do not show fealty to the grid. Melbourne does, and then runs trams down them for added bonus. Sydney is a very interesting case I this regard. There's a dominant grid above a certain level, and utter chaos below it.

Utah cities are so dedicated to the grid system that the names of the streets are numbers, so you can use reference points. I'm at 830 W 834 N, and if you're not dealing with those damned one-way or half streets, you can find anything.

Charlotte, though!

I'd say Boston! Good lord.

Philly is a lot bigger than Manhattan, though, and it's complicated by the river that literally runs through it. Whereas Manhattan is bordered by the rivers, except to the north, so if you find yourself going over a bridge, you know you fucked up. And I don't include the boroughs in my NYC driving.

I got lost once in Philly for seriously two hours. I think it's also due to the fact that I grew up near NYC, and I just *know* it(well, Manhattan). I have also not really adopted Philly as my local city, although I know I should. My NYC love runs really deep.

Oh, just go out to some small midwestern town. My cousins live at the intersection of 1st st NE and 2nd ave N (well something like that. Bonkers complicated for a hiccup of a town. Highest in town # is 12th. At some point, the farm was 82nd on someone's plan, 40 minutes away.)

I grew up in a Midwestern town on a bay. They really wanted a grid system, but they also wanted to have everything oriented to the harbor and shipping. It made for interesting compromises.