The New York State Capitol Building

Here are Lucy and Sophie at the bottom of the grand staircase of the New York State Capitol Building in Albany.

Lucy and Sophie are each about 2 feet tall, so this picture gives you some idea of the size of the staircase and the Capitol. I've been told that when Teddy Roosevelt was Governor of New York, he ran up and down the staircase for exercise, just as Sophie and I do in Empire State Plaza.

Construction on the Capitol began in 1875 and took 25 years to complete! It cost more than $25,000,000 to build. It is made of solid masonry and in some places the walls are 4 or 5 feet thick. I have also heard that it is slowly sliding down the hill toward the Hudson River. Thankfully, restoration work is helping to stop that from happening. Thousands of people work in the building every day to run our state government. When you see our current Governor, George Pataki speak on the news, he is in the Executive Chamber of the Capitol.

The Capitol has beautiful hand carvings in wood and stone, inside and outside the building. Guided tours are given every weekday. On the tour, you can go into many of the Capitols grand rooms like the Assembly and Senate Galleries. To get a tour schedule you can call the Plaza Vistor Center at 518-474-2418.

Notice anything unusual about this section of stone carving?????

We'd love to know why there is a Golden Retriever in this frieze!! A frieze is a decorative boarder of carving usually found in stone on the outside of a building.

Lucy and Sophie have the strange feeling that they aren't the only 4 legged creatures in the park surrounding the Capitol.

It's the equestrian statue of Civil War General Philip Sheridan. Equestrian means horse and this is one BIG horse!

If you're not a dog, you can take the Albany Duck Tour. It travels on land and water to show you the sights there are to see all around Albany. It even passes by our house 4 or 5 times a day!

We hope you enjoyed out trip to the Capitol.

Lucy poses for her frieze portrait.