old adobe, sobering science - View this location on map  'Albuquerque will celebrate its tricentennial in 2006. It's a city with a grand and stirring history, visible still in Old Town. The Old Town Plaza is ringed with low-slung, rickety adobes, some dating to the 18th century. Too many of the buildings house souvenir shops now, but there's also Saints & Martyrs ( 505-224-9323), specializing in religious iconography and milagros (healing charms). Old Town teems with museums. The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (1801 Mountain Road NW, 505-841-2800) has dinosaur bones and models. Next door, the Explora Science Center (1701 Mountain Road NW, 505-224-8300) lets you study the expenditure of energy as youngsters dash from display to display. The Albuquerque Museum (2000 Mountain Road NW, 505-243-7255) opened a new wing to exhibit painting in November. The most moving institution is the National Atomic Museum (1905 Mountain Road NW, 505-245-2137), with extra casings, above, that were made for the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, newsreels of weapons tests at nearby Los Alamos and elsewhere, debates, a collection of atomic-themed comics and notebooks where visitors can weigh in on irradiated foods and such. Fascinating and sad.'' New York Times 404A San Felipe Street NW, Albuquerque, NM Shopping, Historical, Cultural |