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Overlooked Albany
The New York State Capitol Building in Albany
Who knew this stuff was here? Certainly not me, even though I’d seen it all before. Growing up just outside of Albany, New York, I’m confident I toured these buildings and museums on any number of school field trips. I’m equally certain that all of those trips were unmitigated disasters. I remember absolutely nothing about them.
So powerful is my amnesia that I seemed to have forgotten that Albany had anything at all worth seeing. Even as we traveled thousands of miles seeking out similar locations across the country, touring them in my home state never entered my mind.
Not even laying eyes on New York’s State Capitol building could shake the cobwebs. Upon seeing it we still weren’t quite sure we had arrived at the correct address. It looked nothing at all like the kind of building we had come to expect from such places. It had no dome, or Doric columns. It didn’t mimic the U.S. Capitol in D.C., like so many state capitols do. Instead, it resembled an Italian palace.
Move Over Zombies, the Night Watch has Arrived
This is possibly the best “Flash Mob” ever. To commemorate the reopening of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum on April 13, a large portion of which was closed for a decade’s long renovation, performers staged an elaborate re-creation of Rembrandt’s most famous work The Night Watch before an unsuspecting audience.
Paint the Town
Even the briefest tour around Los Angeles would reveal this striking fact: The City of Angels is abloom in a unique and unrivaled collection of public murals. From the rich diversity of its sprawling ethnic neighborhoods, the city’s walls, bridges and even freeway abutments have been transformed into street posters for Los Angeles’ cultural history and identity, showcasing an estimated 1,500 murals – more than any other urban center.”
– L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs
L.A. On Foot
We’ve had some fun at L.A.’s expense this week and, we admit, it was all a bit too easy. We’re certainly guilty of picking low-hanging fruit by complaining about L.A.’s car culture. It’s not like L.A. traffic is something new, or novel. In fact, we were reminded recently that Steve Martin parodied some of the same issues more than two decades ago in L.A. Story, only he did it better.
To make amends we thought we’d leave our cars behind and show L.A. from a more unusual perspective: through the eyes of a pedestrian. What follows is an easy two mile loop of downtown L.A. that explores some of the city’s most impressive architecture.
Everywhere Once 