Subtitle: I was in Albany visiting a friend Aug 24-27, 2012. Did some wandering around Albany, saw parks, the downtown plaza, the NY state museum, and got a tour of the capitol building (not all in the same day). Fun time.
# photos
00-park_Panorama1: A panoramic shot of the pond in Washington Park.
04-DSC_2938: The State Capitol Building.
05-building_Panorama1: Panoramic shot of the New York State Office Building. it has a strong 1920s look to the architecture.
05-DSC_2947: Another shot of the New York State Office building.
06-DSC_2948: Some ornamentalation at the edge of the grounds for the NYS Capitol building.
07-DSC_2957: A wide angle shot of the State Capitol building. It's one of 10 US state capitol buildings that are not dome based (after the US Capitol, domes became all the rage). I took a panoramic version of it, but the simple wide angle one looked better.
08-DSC_2958: A long shot of the NYS Office Building from the grounds of the NYS Capitol.
09-DSC_2959-2: A preying mantis on a column of the Capitol.
10-DSC_2961: In perspective: Stephanie and the preying mantis.
11-DSC_2963: A close up of the preying mantis.
12-DSC_2982: A cool light on a column on the grounds of the Capitol.
13-DSC_2983: Capitol columns.
14-DSC_2986-2: Fancy ornimentation on windows in the Capitol.
15-DSC_2987: A mobile sculpture that spin in the wind in the Empire State Plaza.
16-DSC_2994: The New York museuem in the Empire State Plaza.
17-DSC_2995: The plaza overlooks the Albany area. There were some nice, new buildings, and some pretty ratty, abandoned buildings. The contrast between them was kind of striking to me, especially since some were pretty close together.
18-DSC_3011: Not quite like The Cube in Ann Arbor, but that won't stop me from trying to spin it (unsuccessfully).
18-pit_Panorama1: The edge of the Plaza (by The Egg) overlooked a grassy area and then highways (kind of ugly actually). There were two big, curious, pits that went down to ... I don't know where. I had my 50mm lens and couldn't get far enough for one picture to capture it all (these cement-surrounded, fence-lined pits were rather huge). So I took a series of pictures and combined them together.
19-DSC_3017: Looking up at the Corning Tower (in the Empire State Plaza).
20-DSC_3026: The Plaza and a bit of art alongside the pool (the yellow bit). It's several different disjoint pieces that form an eye-like object when one stands in the right place (this was on the steps to the New York Museuem.
21-DSC_3054: Stephanie eyes a sample of fluorite. Someday, it shall be hers...oh yes...it shall. (While it was pretty neat, all rectangular and purple, it was the best picture I could find. They didn't have The Hope Diamond or something like that handy were someone could stare at it. They did have lots of different mineral samples.)
22-DSC_3056: Herkimer diamond quartz. "Herkimer"? Come on? It sounds like hurdy-gurdy or the sound a Rube-Goldberg machine would make as it breaks down. They should have called it "sparkleadium" or "glitterite" or something like that.
# new header
22-chamber_Panorama1-header: The New York State Capitol building
22-chamber_Panorama1-headertext: We also took a tour of the Capitol building. Cool, old building.
I took even more pictures.
22-chamber_Panorama1: Here's a panoramic shot of the viewing gallery for the State Senate.
23-DSC_3086: The floor of the NY State Senate. The chairs with desks are for the press corps. The Senate Majority Leader's assistants sit behind them, and the desk of the Majority Leader is visible on the upper left side of the picture.
24-DSC_3089: Stained glass windows in the senate chamber.
25-DSC_3091: Cool looking lights hanging from the ceiling.
26-DSC_3096: The desk of the State Senate Majority Leader.
27-DSC_3103:
28-DSC_3104:
29-DSC_3105: Oramentation in the stonework in the columns in the Capitol Building.
30-DSC_3127: More fancy stonework columns.
30-main_stairs_Panorama1: A panoramic shot of the main stairs in the NYS Capitol Building. The stitching together of the photos has a few flaws, but it gives a good idea of the cool layout of the stairs. Kind of Hogwarts like from the Harry Potter series.
31-DSC_3139: Many of the columns have faces of well-known people carved into them. This one has Abraham Lincoln.
32-DSC_3141: Some faces are politicians, others are literary. This one's is
Longfellow.
33-DSC_3146: A cool looking door to the library...or is it?
34-DSC_3149: More cool staircases.
35-DSC_3163: A directory showing the press corps.
36-DSC_3164-2: One news group broadcasts a live radio show.
37-DSC_3165-2: I really like the orange glow in the stonework under the stairs.
38-DSC_3170: More cool stairs.
39-DSC_3175: A light in the state assembly chamber.
40-DSC_3176-2: Another shot of the assembly chamber. The thing under the windows is a display that will show the current votes.
40-assembly_Panorama1: Looking out to the front of the assembly chamber.
41-DSC_3183: The fireplace in the assembly chamber. Unlike the senate chamber, it's not big enough for people to stand in it and have conversations. But it's still pretty cool.
42-DSC_3184: The fireplace did have some cool "grotesques" above it.
43-DSC_3185: Another view of the Senate Chamber from the back.
44-DSC_3186: A window in the back side of the assembly chamber.
45-DSC_3193: Another view of the cool stairwells in the Capitol.
45-ceiling_Panorama1: A panoramic shot of one part of the ceiling in one part of the Capitol. The ceiling is painted wtih impressive murals, such as rippling, muscular rebels killing the powdered-wig-wearing evil British with their bare hands. It also has a WWI soldier about to bayonet someone, who I'm sure is evil, and a pretty muscular topless chick holding a flag and a sword (yes, there is a boob visible in the NY state capitol building).
46-DSC_3204: The next set of pictures are from the Hall of Governors, which has portraits of (almost) all of the governors of NY.
47-DSC_3205: George Clinton was the first governor of NY—not to be confused with the other, much more funky George Clinton. Governor from 1777-1795, and 1801-1804. He was vice president of the US after that.
48-DSC_3206: The tour group and guide walking down the Hall of Governors.
49-DSC_3208: Theodore Roosevelt, 33rd Governor of NY, 1900-1900 (he left to become vice president of the US).
50-DSC_3209: Franklink Delano Roosevelt, 44th Governor of NY, 1929-1932 (he became president of the US after that).
51-DSC_3210: Thomas Dewey, 47th Governor of New York, 1943-1954. He ran for president but lost to Truman (unless you believe the famous picture of Truman holding the copy of the Chicago Daily Tribute showing the erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman."
52-DSC_3211:
53-DSC_3212: Nelson Rockefeller, the 49th governor of NY, 1959-1973, was among other things, responsible for the Empire State Plaza.
54-DSC_3213:
55-DSC_3214: Stephanie contemplates an Eagle.
56-DSC_3227: Frank on the Harry Potter stairs.
57-DSC_3228: More cool stone carving of a face.
58-DSC_3229: A dragon eating something carved in stone.
59-DSC_3231: Looking at the NY State Office Building from inside the Capitol.
60-DSC_3232: The inside of one of the elevators, that still has a manual control lever. I've no idea when they replaced all the elevator operators, but it probably wasn't all that long ago.