CONNECTICUT - Hartford/Central

Wadsworth Atheneum, at 600 Main Street in Hartford, America's oldest public art museum, is an imposing castle-like structure containing more than 45,000 works of art. It has a refurbished sculpture garden and a collection of many fine paintings of the Hudson River School of art, and works by Dalí, Caravaggio, and Miró. Major art patrons have endowed the collections Meissen and Sèvres porcelain, English silver, and American furniture. And the staff continues to schedule new exhibitions, lectures, tours, performances, films, and family events. Open daily except Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays. Phone: 860-278-2670.

The New England Air Museum at 36 Perimeter Road at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks is New England’s largest aviation museum. It houses more than 80 aircraft and an extensive collection of engines, instruments, aircraft parts, uniforms and personal memorabilia. Within this collection are the last remaining four-engine American flying boat, the Sikorsky VS-44A; a B-29 Bomber; the Silas Brooks Balloon Basket (1870), the oldest surviving aircraft in the United States; the Bunce-Curtiss Pusher (1912); the Sikorsky S-39; and a Kaman K-225 helicopter. The museum hosts lots of special events, many of them welcoming to children interested in the history of aviation. This is a great stop for families. Open daily, year-round. Phone: 860-623-3305.

Fly to Mars. Forecast a blizzard. Test your own inventions. Harvest solar energy. Control your brainwaves. Construct wind turbines. Live in 4D. This is a list of experiments you can learn and try at the brand-new Connecticut Science Center on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford. A visit to the Center is a high-impact learning experience in a green, clean, bright, and stimulating environment. Adults and children alike will find entertainment and educational value in hands-on, engaging, and exciting exhibits and programs that emphasize current science and science you can use every day. Open year-round. Phone: 860-SCIENCE

Detailed exhibits on important facets of Connecticut history man be found at the Museum of Connecticut History at 231 Capitol Avenue in Hartford. The museum focuses on Connecticut's government, military, and industrial history. Among the many interesting exhibits are the Mitchelson Coin Collection, showing American coins from the 17th-century to the present; the Colt Firearm Collection, from a business that helped make Connecticut a major center of firearms manufacturing throughout the 19th and 20th centuries; the Freedom Trail Quilt Collection; and an explanation of the history of Connecticut’s Charter Oak. Open daily except Sundays. Phone: 860-757-6535.

This historic Victorian theater overlooking the Connecticut River is a beauty, and that is just the start. Home to the original productions of “Man of La Mancha,” “Shenandoah,” and “Annie,” and recipient of two special Tony Awards for outstanding achievement in the musical theater, the Goodspeed Opera House at 6 Main Street in East Haddam is world renowned as the home of the American musical. The work is professional, quick, and wonderfully entertaining. In 2011 patrons can look forward to the annual Festival of New Artists, and productions like “My One and Only,” “Show Boat,” and “City of Angels.” Phone: 860-873-8668.

Visit the Ten Thousand Villages store at 967C Farmington Avenue in West Hartford to browse and purchase beautiful folk art, ceramics, textiles, baskets, jewelry, wall hangings and wall art, pillows, rugs, mirrors, vases, incense, candleholders, and furniture handmade by artists in developing parts of the world. Each product reflects the traditions and cultures of its maker. Enjoy the international music, smell the aroma of gourmet coffee, and taste the luxuriously rich chocolate. Your fair trade purchase of handmade jewelry, home decor and gifts helps improve the lives of thousands of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Phone: 860-233-5470.

Fine furniture from beautiful wood is artwork that lives around us throughout daily lives. Kloter Farms at 216 West Road in Ellington is a family-owned enterprise that started in 1980 as a horse and carriage hobby and then moved into construction of storage buildings then into fine hardwood furniture made in the workbench tradition. The workmanship is outstanding, and the range of products is wide: from gazebos to furniture to children’s playhouses and playscapes. Many items – from jewelry boxes to quilt racks to lazy Susans, make great gifts. Open daily except Sundays. Phone: 860-871-1048.

Anyone with a taste for chocolate will tell you: Munson’s makes the best. This family company has been making fine candy since the end of World War II. Munson’s has the whole range of chocolate varieties – even sugar-free – and plenty of Valentine hearts for the season of romance. Here’s a neat gift idea: the company can wrap milk chocolate bars with a custom message. The minimum order size is 24 bars, so you can remind your sweetie of your devotion with chocolate bars to dole out through the year. Munson’s home store is in Bolton, with nine more retail shops throughout the state.

The Mark Twain House & Museum at 351 Farmington Avenue in Hartford recognizes Samuel Clemens's (Mark Twain’s) role as one of our nation’s foremost literary icons and his ongoing influence on American culture. The Mark Twain House & Museum’s collection contains 16,000 artifacts, the main one being the historic home of Samuel L. Clemens, which has been meticulously restored. The collection also includes pieces that originally belonged to the Clemens family; other period pieces of decorative and fine arts and domestic artifacts; and popular culture artifacts that display interpretations of Mark Twain’s image, work and characters; and material relating to the work and style of the original architects and decorators of the Twain House. Phone: 860-247-0998.

Here is a project that can keep you busy year-round: explore the 15 world-class museums and historic sites that comprise the Connecticut Art Trail. The trail meanders among historic sites, bucolic farms, art studios and artists' houses to grand and modern art museums in vibrant downtowns. The trail includes a feature called Trail Getaways that presents recommended itineraries along with helpful suggestions for nearby places to visit and dine. In the Hartford / Central region, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford.