Aerial Over Albany, New York, USA, 2009

We actually weren't on an A380 for this trip, as the only one Air France has is the one seen above. Instead, we were on an A330, which is not extremely common, but not very rare either. I took this was we were flying over Albany, NY, on our way to Newark Libery International Airport in New Jersey (the literature now says New York since they think it's clearer, but Newark is still in New Jersey, whatever they say). Running left to right (really north to south) is the Hudson River, but that delta that you can see there is where the Mohawk flows into the Hudson, hence Albany's historic importance. The larger island to the right (south) is Van Schaick Island, and the smaller one to the left (north) is Peebles Island. The much smaller island in front (to the west of) Peebles is Simmons Island, and the pair of islands to the left (north) are Goat and Second Islands. The area on the shore in front of (to the west of) Simmons Island is the Albany suburb of Cohoes. Albany is the northern limit of navigation on the Hudson River (the Erie Canal, now the Barge Canal, connects the Hudson with the Great Lakes via the Mohawk Valley), and it's connected to the Mohawk River in Little Falls. Between Albany and Little Falls, Locks have been built in the Mohawk to facilitate navigation, and to the west of Little Falls the two waterways are seperate. Albany is also the State Capital of New York, being a politically acceptable distance from New York City, which controversially has a larger population in its metropolitan area (which spans three states) than the rest of the State. The State has, officially, a population of 19,541,453, and New York City has 8,363,710 officially, but the total metropolitan area of New York is about 18,000,000-19,000,000 people, depending on how you measure it. Even if taken in isolation, the figure of 8,363,710 represents close to 43% of the population, so it's easy to see why people are concerned about the city having disproportionate influence in a State that overall is politically different from the City. This isn't the first time the capital has been moved north, either. Originally New York City WAS the capital of New York, but in 1777, it was moved to Kingston, and only in 1797 was the capital moved permanently to Albany. The city of Albany is actually older than New York, however, dating to 1540 when it was established as the French trading fort which later, under Dutch ownership, became Fort Nassau in 1614, and then Beverwyck from 1654-1664. The town acquired the "Albany" name in 1664, after the British invasion. There's a Wikipedia article available here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany,_New_York