After further research and arrangements, I think I may be able to visit
all 4 cities in July. Now could you please recommend some hotels for
each city? Here's what I'm looking for.

1. Reasonable price (around $100/nite, little more or less)
2. Close to subway or public transportation. It looks like it makes
most sense to leave the car in the hotel and just take public transit
instead.
3. My plan (dictated by a young baby) is to do sightseeing and all during
the day and spend the evenings fineprintwindow/fineprint shopping ;-)
So a hotel near shopping districts may be desired. But we don't see
ourselves doing that everynight, so reasonable price may be a bigger
factor.

Also, I have a couple questions:
1. Do you usually have to play for parking at the hotel? How does it work?
2. If I get a all-day pass to use public transit at a city, can the pass
be used for both subway and bus? Or just one?

Thanks.

Henry