August 18, 2025 Breakfast - The Henson. Lunch - The Clark Dinner - Albany Ale and Oyster
We awakened and packed and dressed and went down for breakfast around 8:00. There was no food out on the table so Suzette drank coffee and I drank a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk and sugar.
First, trays of olive bread and bread came out. We shared 1/2 piece of the olive bread but it was oily and we knew that meant filled with calories. Then butter, berry jam, and apple butter and a tray of whole yogurt, and a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of granola were brought out.
Then a coffee cake and a Spanish tortilla with a bowl of sautéed olives was brought out.
Finally, around 8:50, when all the diners except me and one other had finished, a tray of thin sliced ham and thin wedges of cheese were brought out.
We both ate yogurt and sliced a strawberry. I added granola and milk to miry yogurt. Then I ate a toasted slice of bread with butter and apple butter and a wedge of Spanish tortilla and finally a few slices of ham because I wanted to get a boost of energy for the day ahead.
We started around 9:30 going to first to and Arboretum on the outskirts of Albany and then to an antique store because the museums in Albany were all closed, but the antique store we went to had closed permanently.
I mentioned the Clark and Suzette checked it and it was open and located at Williams College just across the border in Massachusetts, so we decided to drive there.
When we arrived it was a massive complex, but there were golf carts to carry us from the parking lot to the entrance.
It was almost noon and my muscles were getting sore, so we stopped at the cafe and shared an avocado and bacon Ceaser Salad that was delicious. Suzette drank a 3 calorie lime seltzer and I ate a whole wheat roll and a can of coke.
The meal helped me walk for two hours through the main collection and an exhibition of British female artists from the period 1875 to 1945.
The Clark is an amazingly encyclopedic collection of art from pre-Renaissance to the early 1900’s. It contains one of the largest American holdings of Claude Monet’s works and a bunch of Renoirs.
Here are a few of the works that impressed me.
We finished viewing by 3:00 and drove back to Albany on highway 43 to Albany Ale and Oyster by 4:00, which was one hour before the end of happy hour. Oysters were $2.00 each, a glass of good Spanish cava was $10.00 and a Lobster Roll was $26.00.
They were shucking four different oysters, all from Canada; Tuxedos from Cascumpec Bay, and Dixon Points, Gaia Boudeuses, and Chebooktooks from Bouctouche Bay served with Cocktail sauce and Mignonette sauce. We ordered one dozen each with each of us getting three of each kind. We liked the clean tasting Tuxedos and Gaias, rather than the briny Dixon Points and muddy tasting Chebooktooks.
I then ordered a lobster roll. There were two types, a cold one filled with lobster salad and a hot one filled with brown butter sautéed lobster.
We chose the brown butter. Both were served in a brioche bun with Chips, fries, or salad. We chose the salad.
We loved the cava. Suzette ate about 1/6 of the lobster roll, so I was able to eat the rest at the expense of today’s diet quota.
We finished by 5:00 and drove to the Century Motel on the north side of Albany.
Unfortunately, the motel gave us chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, so we suffered another nick in the diet.
Some days when the food is wonderful a bit of excess is to be expected.
We watched the news of the Europeans and Zelensky meeting with Trump today in the White House. We shall soon see if Trump will support Western democracy or Russian expansion and dividing the U.S. from its European allies.
Then we watched an hour of British Antiques Roadshow and 2 hours of US Antique Roadshow and went to bed at 10:00, Suzette to sleep and I to blog and read.
About 4000 steps and a slight gain in my portfolio thanks to a $1.50 gain in Nvidia made this an even better day
Bon Appetit
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