Hi

I had a little time to kill while waiting for a connection in Albany...I didn't end up spending the night as I expected. I took a taxi from downtown to the train station area in Rensselaer and was surprised that some of the buildings in the station's vicinity are actually quite charming, unique old-fashioned homes. Downtown Albany itself was a little livelier than I expected and more than a few homes there I felt had a quaint Old World feel. People on the whole were friendly toward me and had a Yankee charm .

Albany may not yet be on the tourist map, but with its long history and preserved architecture, I think as long as developers don't mow it all down, one day it will be. I wished I'd had more time to explore.

DAN

Dan, I'm glad you enjoyed your short visit to Albany. That's where I live, and yes, the architecture is a highlight, and there are some lively areas in the city itself, despite it's not-so-shining reputation. If you're ever in the immediate area again and you have an interest in architecture, the downtown area of Troy also has a lot of Victorian era buildings (a few big-studio movies have been shot there in the past few years). Also the "Stockade" neighborhood of Schenectady has several blocks of the original city dating from the early 1700s (maybe earlier). Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks Sandy for the suggestions. I do hope to make a return visit one of these days; I find the preserved Victorian era homes (possibly combined with Dutch influence?) of Upstate New York offer an aesthetically-appealing architectural style that is unique in this nation to my eyes. I hope people in Albany realize as much as you do what a treasure these houses are.

Dan, Albany, Schenectady, and Troy form a virtual time capsule of America at the turn of the 20th century. The D&H railroad building (the great Romanesque grey stone pile across the river from the Renesselaer train station) may be the best building of its kind still standing in the United States.

But under the heading of "ya oughta been here back when...", Nelson Rockefeller bulldozed near 50 acres of downtown Albany in the late 1960s to create the massive State Government complex, that awful row of look-alike office buildings sitting on a butt-ugly mesa of a parking garage. The complex replaced an entire neighborhood of brownstones and other Dutch-influenced housing.

Should you pass that way again, take a day, rent a car, and tour the area, and don't forget Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs; two more architectural time capsules.

Neal,

As always I enjoy your anecdotes, finding you have some interesting knowledge to share on many aspects of travel, even less-visited areas like Albany/Rensselaer. Hopefully, no more Nelson Rockefellers will come in destroying one of the city's greatest charms. All the best, DAN