{"id":11105,"date":"2024-08-13T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11105"},"modified":"2024-09-12T08:05:37","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T12:05:37","slug":"traveling-to-upstate-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11105","title":{"rendered":"Traveling to Upstate New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019re on I-87 or I-90 skirting Albany, you might want to think twice about not stopping. A visit to New York\u2019s state capitol building is well worth a visit. And there are tours. Here are some fun facts we learned. 1. Construction delays and cost overruns are nothing new. (Huh!) When it was finally finished in 1899, 32 years in the making, the Empire State’s new building had cost more than the US capitol in Washington, D.C. It sounds as if Governor Teddy Roosevelt gave up and finally declared it finished. 2. The Senate Chamber is so acoustically well designed that a state senator cannot speak to a colleague sotto voce<\/em> without risking being heard. To have a quiet conversation, Senators duck into one of the chamber\u2019s two massive (solely decorative) fireplaces. Talk about a fireside chat! Oh, and 3. It was the first public building in the US to have electric lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of lengthy refurbishment are spectacular. The assembly chamber is now being reconstructed, so we couldn\u2019t visit it, but the other refurbished areas, including the Senate Chamber (pictured in part, above), are truly impressive. Most inspiring are the grand staircases (pictured below).<\/p>\n\n\n

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The stonemasons came mostly from the UK. They did their carving on the stone after it was in place, by the way, often working many stories up on scaffolding or ladders\u2014not in a workshop on the ground which sounds so much safer. \u201cNo OSHA back then,\u201d our guide said. The architect didn\u2019t care what they carved on the column capitals and other large areas\u2014faces, plants, animals, abstract designs\u2014\u201cjust don\u2019t carve the same thing twice.\u201d As a result, the carvings are a feast of diversity. Recognizable faces and objects\u2014Lincoln, Frederick Douglass\u2014and imaginary ones surround you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitol buildings become mini-history lessons too. Albany\u2019s Flag Room houses military exhibits and battle flags from conflicts from the War of 1812 to the Gulf War. The Hall of New York features landscape paintings of various state regions\u2014a reminder of what the legislative branch is there to represent. The Hall of Governors gallery displays portraits of 53 of the state\u2019s 57 governors, each with a brief biography. It\u2019s fun to walk that hall saying, \u201cI remember that one!\u201d and noting the governors who became US Presidents and Vice-Presidents. We didn\u2019t see any of those who departed office under a cloud, though at some future point, perhaps they will be \u201crehabilitated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The capitol is located at Washington and State Street in Albany (518-474-2418). Open Mondays through Fridays, 7-7. Free tours weekdays at 10, 12, and 2. Meet at the information desk in the State Street Lobby. To find out about any special tours being offered, visit the Capitol\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re on I-87 or I-90 skirting Albany, you might want to think twice about not stopping. A visit to New York\u2019s state capitol building is well worth a visit. And there are tours. Here are some fun facts we … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"State politics? Tricky. Where it plays out. Awesome! A trip to the NYS capitol in Albany.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[266,35,104,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-real-life","category-the-morgue","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2T7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11109,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11105\/revisions\/11109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}