Parts of Washington Park were originally the State Street Cemetary.  By the 1850's public opinion was shifting to support the expanding the much smaller parade ground into the urban planned park we have today, so the cemetary and other lots were purchased and existing graves moved to Albany Rural Cemetary in Menands.  (Should you ever visit Albany, Rural Cemetary is definitely worth a visit if you're into that type of thing-- it is full of beautiful monuments, grand Victorian crypts and historic colonial era markers.  It's no Mount Auburn but a really nice walk on a sunny day).  The park and boat house have been through many renovations and revamps over the years, however its basic plan reflects the original design of Fredrick Law Olmstead.  Olmstead is famous for Central Park, and Washington Park is planned to be its little sister.  We too have a lake with footbridge, an avenue of benches under elm trees and many other elements featured in New York.  Over time various monuments were added to the landscape-- some obvious, other less so. 

Albany's number one event of the year is the Tulip Festival.  It's held every year, usually on Mother's Day weekend.  There are vendors, musical acts, traditional Dutch events, like the scrubbing of the streets, all centered around a huge display of tulips in bloom in the park.  All of these photos were taken several weeks before hand-- not everything was in bloom yet. 

I never really know what to tell people about Albany-- usually they don't believe that it is a wonderful place because it has been the butt of many a joke over the years.  The television industry tends to use our name to imply a generic backwater.  I assume this reputation is due to comparison with New York City, which is very apples to oranges—plus I personally feel that New York City's allure is rather overestimated as well.   Albany's charm lies in the fact that it is a small old city-- just populated enough that you feel like you're part of a larger web, but open enough that you don't feel like you’re in a tin of sardines.  You can get from the uptown SUNY campus to the heart of downtown in about twenty minutes.  Albany is the center of the tri-cities area--through suburbs it bleeds into the cities of Schenectady and Troy (both also easily reached by highway in 15-25 minutes). 

As for the old, Albany is technically the second oldest incorporated city in the United States--New Amsterdam/New York City is the oldest.  Outside of the incorporation technicality I believe we are fourth, but suffice it to say- we are old by American standards (this means early 1600's--laughable to those in Europe and the Mediterranean but for us it's good!)  Most everything you see in Albany is much newer than that however-- primarily from the mid 1800's on.  There are a few revolutionary era buildings but we’ve gone through several periods of growth in which the old was replaced with new.  You can actually follow the trends through architecture as you drive from downtown to uptown.   The older parts of the city are closest to the Hudson River and packed with row upon row of brick townhouses—a little bit like The Village in New York City.  As you move out there is a band of huge Victorian mansions—giants with dozens of rooms and interesting little details.  These are a beautiful mix of Queen Anne and imported styles of the day- Neo-Gothic, Romanesque Revival, Italianate Palazzo, Moorish etc.  Beyond the Victorian region, there are two family houses from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and finally ‘pop’ architecture from the 1920’s on.  You’ll see the same houses scattered throughout the city, or sometimes even side by side.  On my short little street, I live in one of three identical houses.  This can be really confusing when drunk—fortunately my neighbors have faux stuffed parrots on swings hanging on either side of their doors so I catch on before I rattle the door knob.  Some of these styles are very out of place in the Northeast including Adobe Village (exactly what it sounds like) and  Little Hollywood (west coast bungalows and Spanish-style stucco mini-villas that were popular in California in the 20’s and 30’s). 

Albany is split up into neighborhoods.  I live on the border between Pine Hills and Helderberg, but my very favorite neighborhood in town is Washington Park, which is right at the border between downtown and midtown.  It is full of brownstones and row houses and a few large Victorian apartment buildings, and obviously by the name contains Washington Park.

Well the crooked toe needed to go to Albany for business.  I will be here for the next few days working for GE.  There will be little time for play as the site assessment will take the entire day including the evenings. Lots of walking. 

We did go to a good Italian food resturant, but that is all that we got to do. 

well i have completed the rest of the drive which was over 500 miles. and now i am waiting for the vans to be switch out so i can head back tonight........ i loved the drive from Amherst to Albany real real pritty drive to do especially in NY driving through the mountains.

Bombers is great! They have two options. You can eat downstairs if you don't want to drink or are underage or up stairs were you have to be 21 to get in. They have a sit down restaurant or you can just head to the bar. The food is reasonable and there drinks are a bit more. The best time to go to bombers is on your birthday. They offer a 60oz Margarita that you can drink your self or share it with your friends. The catch though you have to spend so much to get it but its so worth it. There famous for there burritos but they have awesome wings aswell. What I love about Bombers is they offer vegan friendly food. O to go out and eat and not worry about it. It is always super crowded so you know its hot. The service is good. They don't understand though that an app comes before the meal not during. Anywho give it a try and let me know what you think!

It was a nice day in Atlanta, so I had hope for good luck getting to Vermont.  I kept calling the Delta number to check on my baggage, and there never was really an update that helped me know where my bag was.  Laura got me to the airport around 4 and I got to my gate and actually got a seat on the flight I was booked onto, plus they were able to tell me that my baggage was booked on a Continental flight to Albany from Newark that would beat me there.

My flight boarded on time and we had a really funny flight attendant, who had the most put on southern accent in the world, things like "little ol' me."  There was a huge line for the runway so we took off about an hour late, but once we were up it was a smooth flight.  There was still a lot of snow on the ground most of the way to New York.  We got into Albany about 40 minutes late, but then had to wait another 20 minutes at the gate because the ramp at the gate was caught in a snow drift.  At this point, I was ready to leap from the plane to the edge, but they finally got it out of the snow.

Julie was waiting on me and took me to where my bag should have been, it wasn't there.  The baggage agent told me that the Continental flight had just gotten in and so we went to check and there it was, everything was there, the long journey north was officially over.  It is about an hour and a half to Julie's from the airport and it was a beautiful night.  There was a lot of snow everywhere, but the roads were clear and the sky was gorgeous.

We got to Stratton and Julie took me to get a drink and then we headed home.  They live in a chalet on the mountain.  It was built in the 60s as a weekend getaway house, and is very cute, particularly when it is covered in snow.  I was just so happy to be there.  The thing I love about Vermont is how dark it is at night and how many stars you can see -- it is simply amazing.  Looking at the stars made everything I had been through that weekend absolutely worth it.

Because of train delay we took a look at the city

6:47pm
Reached Albany, NY.

Reading Book 6...Dining Car is closed right now. Of course, when I want to eat.

7:32pm
Finally left Albany. The guy sitting next to me is on his cell phone and sounds exactly like Craig Jorzcak, but looks like Napolean Dynamite. That is all.

9:06pm
At Syracuse and I'm in the dining car. I've been waiting just about an hour and no one has taken my table's order. I'm sitting with a nice Spanish family of three, but not conversing much. Back to the wait.

10:22pm
Back from dinner...That took forever. It's time for some rest.

Don't ever try to go sleding in up state New York... I am warning you now... ROCKS!!! many many many rocks.