Travel Adventures in Upstate New York, Part 9: Albany

This is my ninth post about our travel through upstate New York. I recommend reading the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth posts from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received admission tickets and other benefits for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places are free for everyone; we paid full price for the rest. This has no bearing on my reviews. If you see any gaps in my narrative, it is because I didn't love a particular attraction, restaurant, or hotel enough to recommend it, regardless of how much I paid or didn't pay.

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Albany, New York

We've been on a mission to visit all 50 state capitals. Despite traveling to all 50 states, there are a few capital cities that we missed. Albany, New York was one of them, so I'm thrilled to have finally made it there. 

We arrived in Albany in the evening of Tuesday, September 9, after a fun-filled day in Cooperstown. We checked into the Hampton Inn Downtown, then walked up the block for dinner at The Hollow Bar and Kitchen. It was incredible. I ordered the Risotto of the Day and I'm still thinking about how good it was. 

  

At this point, we were six days into our trip and had been in five different hotels. We'd driven hundreds of miles. It was SO nice to get up in the morning knowing that we didn't have to pack our suitcases and we wouldn't be getting in the car until the next day. Everything we visited was conveniently located within easy walking distance of our hotel. 

We'd only crossed a single street (that's our hotel in the background) when I made Steve take a picture of me. Check out how little snow Albany gets compared to Ithaca. Not that 5+ feet of snow is 'little' by any stretch of the imagination.  

Albany on the left; Ithaca on the right

On the way to the Capitol, we stumbled upon the Birthplace of Modern Electricity. 

There's the Capitol in the distance. Quite different architecture from the other 49 states' Capitol buildings, right?  

Unfortunately, there's major construction going on at the Capitol and the front is entirely blocked off.

Fortunately, the sides are just as ornate. All they're missing is the grand staircase. 

Before we went in the Capitol, we popped into the Department of Education across the street. We got a grand staircase photo there. 

We were there to see New York's Liberty Bell. This is as close as they let you get. It's frustrating not to be able to pose with it like we usually do, but at least it's actually on display. 

Time to explore the Capitol! It's just as unique on the inside as it is on the outside. 

  

It's an enormous building and there are exhibits and artwork all over. I love that. 

I really liked the Hall of Governors. 

  

Four of New York's governors have gone on to become President (Van Buren, Cleveland, and two Roosevelts). Their portraits are marked with the Presidential Seal. 

  

  

The Capitol has its own Dunkin Donuts. Never seen that before!

Across from the Capitol is the fabulous Empire State Plaza. 

Peek-a-boo!

At the far end of the plaza, opposite the Capitol, is the New York State Museum. It's great. 

That's a map of the Erie Canal behind me. I'm pointing to Buffalo (where we started our trip) and Albany (where we were) - we'd traveled the length of the Erie Canal!

Bunnies!

  

One of my favorite exhibits was about New York's tenements. See that outline on the floor? That's the size of a typical tenement apartment. 

We'd only seen about half of the New York State Museum, but we were ready for lunch. There were food trucks out on the Plaza, so we got a fabulous caprese panini from The Press and enjoyed the beautiful day. 

We also enjoyed watching the workers dangling from ropes at The Egg. 

Appropriately, our next activity involved heights, but we took the elevator and no dangling was involved. 

The Corning Tower Observation Deck is on the 42nd floor and provides excellent views of Albany. 

The water you see is the Hudson River. 

We took the elevator back down (no dangling) and then returned to the New York State Museum. 

I got to visit Sesame Street twice on the same trip!

This exhibit was significantly smaller than the one at The Strong, plus there you can touch whatever you want. But I still enjoyed it. 

  

This was all about New York's legendary subway system. 

I've been on the real thing multiple times, but it was still neat to board a subway car at the museum. 

I love how diverse the exhibits at the NY State Museum are. Together, they do a great job telling the story of the Empire State. 

  

Guess where this was made!

Spot the lead horse. 

The most impactful exhibit at the NY State Museum is about the World Trade Center. It is incredibly powerful. 

  

We had a wonderful time at the New York State Museum and definitely recommend a visit. 

The weather was perfect when we visited Albany, but that is not always the case. (See snow pole at the top of the post.) When the weather is poor, people use the Underground City to get around. It connects all of the buildings of the Empire Plaza. We used it to travel back from the Museum to the Capitol. 

The wide, well-lit corridors are so convenient for getting from place to place. Even more convenient is how many necessities are located down there. Some are not surprising, like a food court. 

I was much more surprised by a barbershop, post office, banks, jewelry repair, and DMV. So cool! 

There's even a visitor center down there!

We popped out at the Capitol, then walked a short distance to the Albany Institute of History and Art. It is New York's oldest museum, founded in 1791. 

  

  

  

I thought this was really neat. Visitors with vision impairment can touch the various elements on the tabletop to feel what the painting looks like and to get an audio description of each item. 

The Institute has more than 25,000 objects in the collection, as well as over a million documents in the research library. You can get a tiny peek into some of the objects that aren't on display through a viewing window. That was neat. 

After a fun day full of sightseeing, we were ready to relax with a delicious dinner. We went to Viva Empanadas, which was a great choice. 

The food was SO good. We shared an arepas appetizer, four different empanadas as an entree, and filled churros with chocolate sauce for dessert. Everything was fantastic. (Steve's sitting at two different tables because we offered to move partway through dinner to accommodate a large group that wanted to be seated together.)

  

We returned to the Hampton Inn for a second restful night. We had an early morning and a busy day ahead of us. I'll tell you all about it on Monday.