As good a place as any to start a walking tour of downtown is the Ohio Statehouse (Mon-Fri 7am-7pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm; tours Mon-Fri 9.30am-3pm, Sat & Sun 11.15am-3pm; free), pleasantly set in ten acres of park at the intersection of Broad and High streets, the two main downtown arteries. Highlights of the free guided tours in this recently renovated 1839 Greek Revival structure - one of the very few state capitols without a dome - are the ornate Senate and House chambers.

From here, most places of interest lie a few blocks east and west along Broad Street. The new incarnation of Columbus's COSI (Center of Science and Industry) is housed in a streamlined structure across the river at 333 W Broad St (Mon-Sun 10am-5pm; adults $12, kids $7; ), and boasts more than 300,000 square feet of exhibit space, most of it geared toward children. Across from COSI's former location, the Wendy's Original Restaurant at 257 E Broad St (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 11am-6pm), pays homage to Dave Thomas's enduringly down-home national burger chain, started here in 1969. There's the usual menu, plus pictures of famous patrons, glass cases full of Wendy dolls, the original homemade dress Thomas's daughter Wendy wore when she posed for the logo that's still used today, and other memorabilia. Incidentally, the city also introduced the White Castle burger chain to the world in 1921, but some enthusiast of the greasy patties bought up the first castellated diner and moved it elsewhere as a private residence.

Three blocks east, a giant Henry Moore sculpture stands at the entrance to the inviting Columbus Museum of Art , 480 E Broad St (Tues-Wed & Fri-Sun 10am-5.30pm, Thurs 10am-8.30pm, closed Mon; $4, free Thurs 5.30-8.30pm), which also has a pleasant sculpture garden. Indoors, this airy space holds particularly good collections of Western and modernist art, including a dramatic mixed-media piece by Anselm Kiefer just by the entrance, a renowned photography gallery and touring exhibits.

The Topiary Garden , 480 E Town St, in Old Deaf School Park (daylight hours; free), at the corner of Washington Avenue and East Town Street south of the museum, provides a quirky photo opportunity. In the center of this verdant little park, a group of locals have re-created in topiary Georges Seurat's famous post-Impressionist work, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte . Believed to be the only painting reinterpreted in evergreen shrubbery, it features fifty pruned humans, three dogs, a monkey, a cat and eight leafy boats floating in a pond.

Downtown

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