New York State Capitol, Albany

Visiting friend from Detroit, He took me here for the tour. Once you go through the security screening, you can resister at the ground floor for the tour and it is free. I do recommend to do the tour as tour guide is friendly, knowledgeable and answered all kinds of questions. Also guided tour gives you access to more area inside the building. Yes they have invested unthinkable money in to designing and building all these beautiful history. I truly believe that many people will get to see it and enjoy the site for years to come !

I am one of those who always assume capital city of New York state was New York City until i visited Albany. It was a high wow factor at the State Capitol - to begin with, it is one of a very limited list of places in NY that is free for admission but what surprised me was almost every angle of it was a picture perfect scene, inside & out. Parking is free after 5 PM before it close by 7 PM weekdays. Make sure to see the grand Million Dollar staircase - costed a million dollars at the time it was built, appreciate the sculpture along the stair evolving from single biological cell at the ground floor to higher intelligent mammals to its top floor. The outside front stairs and garden were very elegant. I also had an extended stay at the park next to it - took lots of photos with the huge 'I Love NY' signage, the dumb sharped performing art arena, and those beautiful buildings around the park.