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5 reasons to discover the delights of Albany

From museums to spectator sports to pub grub, the New York State capital offers plenty of fun

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Awestruck, I gaze up at the Cohoes Mastodon at Albany’s New York State Museum, which has owned the skeleton since 1866. Scientists estimate that the eight-foot-tall, 15-foot-long creature weighed up to 10,000 pounds. Right now, I’m glad Mr. Old-School Elephant has been dead for thousands of years, since I wouldn’t stand a chance against those tusks.

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Also, I have plans for happy hour. It’s time to party in Albany.

Naturally, New York City attracts the lion’s share of tourism in this state, with more than 60 million visitors annually. Yet Albany remains an 800-pound political gorilla as the state capital.

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The underrated city of 100,000, whose architecture ranges from quaint brick rowhouses to magnificent mansions, burgeons with history and culture. By car, it’s under four hours from Montreal and under six hours from Toronto. By air, it’s easy to connect via Chicago on United or American Airlines.

Here are 5 reasons to discover the delights of Albany.

Memorable Museums

Sesame Street display at Albany museum
A Sesame Street exhibition is part of the New York State Museum. Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

There’s much more to the New York State Museum than that mastodon. The biggest state museum in the U.S. boasts about 100,000 feet of exhibition space. I had childhood flashbacks when I checked out the recreated set of Sesame Street, filmed in Astoria, NY since 1969.

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Another diorama reveals how the original Delmonico’s restaurant in Manhattan introduced a la carte dining – as opposed to set meals at set times – to American patrons in 1830. A heavily damaged fire truck from the 9/11 terror attacks also left an impression on me, as did detailed exhibitions on New York State birds and the Mohawk native people.

The Albany Institute of History and Art got me jacked up for my long-anticipated trip to Egypt this fall. At first blush, that sounds odd. After all, the 1791-founded museum on Washington Avenue is well-known for some 90 gracious Hudson River School landscape paintings by masters such as Frederic Church and Thomas Cole.

However, in 1909, Albany businessman Samuel Brown purchased two mummies from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, and they instantly captured the imagination of locals when displayed here. Personally, I was enraptured by a stone bust of the lion goddess Sekhmet, dating back to 1350 BC. (She seems more chilled out than Osiris or Anubis.)

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Extraordinary Empire State Plaza

Empire State Plaza in Albany
Empire State Plaza hosts both the New York State Capitol (left) and The Egg (right). Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Cold War-era movies like Red Dawn (1984) and TV miniseries like Amerika (1987) dramatized American fears that the Russians were coming. Empire State Plaza, which includes the New York State Museum, showcases Brutalist architecture that would have fit right in if, say, Brezhnev had convinced Carter to surrender.

Completed in 1976 to honour state governor Nelson Rockefeller, the plaza is built on a jaw-dropping 240,000,000 cubic feet of concrete. The Egg, located in the northeast corner, is, as one might suspect, an egg-shaped performing arts centre that’s presented artists from Harry Connick Jr. to Phish. The Corning Tower stands 42 stories tall as the state’s tallest skyscraper outside Manhattan and offers amazing panoramas from its observation deck.

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Empire State Plaza also has 92 pieces of abstract expressionist art on display, including works by Jackson Pollock and Louise Nevelson. Tours are scheduled each Monday at 1 pm or by appointment between 9 pm and 3 pm, courtesy of the Empire State Plaza Visitor Center.

Deep Dutch Heritage

Tulip sculpture in Albany, New York
A giant metal tulip pays tribute to Albany’s Dutch heritage. Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

When I spotted a giant metal tulip in downtown Albany, it was a visible reminder that Dutch settlers arrived here on the west bank of the Hudson River in the early 18th century, predating the English by nearly a century.

For a taste of early colonial history, head to Crailo State Historic Site. The vintage farm, whose name means “crows’ wood” in Dutch, displays weapons, games, and various artefacts from archaeological digs at the nearby Fort Orange trading post.

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If you’re a fan of the hit musical Hamilton, don’t miss the Schuyler Mansion. Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of U.S. Senator and Revolutionary War general Philip J. Schuyler, married Alexander Hamilton at this Georgian-style, brick mansion in 1780.

And if you can never get enough of Netherlandish horticulture, the Albany Tulip Festival awaits (May 11-12, 2020). More than 100,000 blooming tulips, a traditional Dutch street scrubbing ceremony with costumed, clog-wearing women, and the Royal Tulip Ball dinner and dance are some of the highlights.

Surprising Spectator Sports Scene

Times Union Center in Albany, New York
Albany’s Times Union Center hosted the first Aurora Games in 2019. Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Did you know that almost half of Mike Tyson’s first 25 professional fights took place here in the Hudson Valley? At times, the Albany sports scene has taken a Tyson-style pummeling. For instance, three AHL farm teams of NHL clubs have abandoned nearby Glens Falls since 1999.

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Happily, as I discovered, there’s still lots for sports fans to do and see in the Albany area, from special events to club teams.

The inaugural Aurora Games, a women’s sports festival including Canadian stars like Bianca Andreescu (tennis) and Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan (beach volleyball), took place in August at the 17,500-capacity Times Union Center. The Aurora Games are scheduled to return in 2021 and 2023.

The Times Union Center will host two rounds of 2020 NCAA March Madness basketball (March 19-21), and is also home to the Albany Empire indoor football team, which debuted last year.

The 1863-opened Saratoga Race Course is a must-visit for horse racing fans, and has featured such legendary horses as Man o’ War and Secretariat. It’s right across the street from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. If you prefer debating whether Pete Rose and Mark McGwire belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown is just an hour and half to the west.

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Prime Pub Grub and Drinks

Food in Albany, New York
Try the happy hour nachos at the Albany Pump Station. Photo by Lucas Aykroyd

Don’t get me wrong. As a health-conscious traveller, I enjoyed lunching on the Iron Gate Cafe’s Power Bowl with kale, broccoli, chickpeas, quinoa, avocado, and local poached eggs. But in Albany, happy hour is where it’s at.

At the Albany Pump Station, home to the C.H. Evans Brewing Company, my brisk server asked me if I wanted the apricot wheat beer and mouthwateringly huge nachos again when I walked in for the second straight day. (What a perspicacious woman!)

At Wolff’s Biergarten, I went full Oktoberfest, New York style. I guzzled a smoked wild boar wurst with bacon and leek Brussels sprouts and a mammoth-sized June Farms Pilsner, brewed in Utica. With German flags flapping over the patio, Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” blasting in the background, and communal tables with peanut shells on the floor, I felt like saying “Thank you” in German, Dutch, and English to Albany.

– The author visited as a guest of Discover Albany and the New York State Division of Tourism, neither of which reviewed or approved this article.

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