10 Best Sights in Syracuse, The Finger Lakes

The former factory-warehouse district of redbrick buildings is now a vibrant area with shops, restaurants, and loads of nightlife. The district is named after the 1874 armory, now home to the Museum of Science and Technology, near its southern perimeter.

The smell of its bread baking is so good that Columbus Baking Co. could charge admission. On a side street in Syracuse's Little Italy section, the bakery has just one product and makes it 10 paces from where customers buy it.

Orient yourself to Syracuse and the region by watching the introductory film in the museum theater. Then make your way to a replica canal boat in a circa-1850 building where real canal boats were weighed when the Erie was a major player in U.S. commerce. A re-created general store, an 1800s canal office, and a postal area are interspersed with exhibits about Syracuse musician Libba Cotten and others who shaped the region.

Jackson Pollock and Andrew Wyeth works are part of the collection of more than 8,000 objects at the Everson, which was designed by architect I.M. Pei. Kids have their own gallery.

Walk through replicas of the human heart and brain; crawl, jump, and slide through the five-floor Science Playhouse; and learn about cave formations exploring the Discovery Cave. The MOST, as it's called, is a hands-on science museum built to entertain and educate. It occupies a former armory and includes an IMAX theater.

A multicultural approach helps children enjoy the fine arts through masks and puppets, ranging from English marionettes to Indonesian shadow puppets. Performances are given at 11 am on some Saturdays from October to April. The theater also has a storytelling series. Browse masks, puppets, and traditional wooden toys in the gift shop.

Part of the half-mile loop at this zoo is a treetop boardwalk that allows you to traipse above fields of reindeer and other hoofed animals. You can touch the Asian elephants, which have been bred here for decades. Sand cats, ocelots, meerkats, penguins, red pandas, and Amur tigers reside here, too, along with hundreds of other animals. A reptile house and a free-flight aviary are among the indoor exhibits.

Enter Warwickshire, a 1585 English village spread across a wooded hillside, and spend the day as an Elizabethan. Costumed improvisational troupes beckon you to join them for a rollicking round at the dunking pond, courtly dancing, discourse at the village "well," or cheering at the jousting field, where men astride strong steeds play medieval games. Artisan booths feature Elizabethan-style caps and clothing, handmade musical instruments, and jewelry. The festival, about an hour north of the city, is held for seven summer weekends starting in early July.

A number of lectures and music performances are open to the public, as is the SUArt Galleries, in the Shaffer Art Building.

The school, founded in 1870 as a private coeducational institution, enrolls more than 19,000 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs. Two centuries of building styles can be seen on the compact campus, which is crossed by city streets and includes a traditional collegiate quadrangle. Get campus maps online or at the Schine Student Center, at 303 University Place.