Country Music Capital of the World, Nashville.
It was with much disappointment that we left Chatanooga but we were heading to Nashville, Tennessee, the home of Country Music (and Davy Crockett) and we were excited. After along drive we settled in to our RV Park with live music and a ‘homecooked’ steak meal all at the camp.
Next day we headed into town to see the legendary “Honky Tonk Strip”. A warning for anyone heading to Nashville. If you’re looking for somewhere to park have a large bank account. We fluked a $10 all day spot next door to the Ryman Auditorium and from there we set off on foot. You can see for yourself what Nashville looks like. Not a bad looking place even with the “Batman” building in the middle of it. A lot of the photos here are from the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour (had a win here as they forgot to charge us for the tour). We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café which is something we do in a lot of places we visit. The memorabilia is worth it alone and the meals are decent value. The last 2 pics are of a funny item called the Pedal Tavern. You pedal around the city as you have a drink (or two, three, four…).
After the HRC lunch we wandered over to one of Nashville’s most important attractions, The Country Music Hall Of Fame (CMHOF). Once inside the first thing we did was catch the last 15 minutes of a lecture/show on ‘hillbilly, country, bluegrass, western etc music presented by a group called the Derryberrys. (That’s their real name). Here are two terrific videos we shot from the stands. (Derryberry at Nashville Tennessee’s Country Music Hall of Fame https://youtu.be/grxRsSPLaII & https://youtu.be/ZnfabvvfdSQ )
After that performance we wandered about till our legs were too sore to continue. I won’t go on about each photo but let you zoom in and read the names and notes. (See if you can guess the artist in any of the photos.) There is one pic I will draw your attention to as Shane and I took a dozen shots just to get this one perfect. After the shot of Shane & I with all those records on the wall behind us there is a picture of a single record (by Elvis). Have a close look at the reflection in the shiny LP.
The final gallery in this post is of one of the best nights we have had in many years. Our night at the Grand Ole Opry. It would be criminal to come to Nashville and not have a night at the Opry. After wandering the CMHOF Shane suggested that we should do a lap around the GOO and stop in at the ticket box to ‘feel out’ the place. That was a good move. While you can get tickets online the box office has a wider range of seats available (point 1). You can also have a chat with the ladies behind the counter to help pick your seats and get some inside goss (point 2). One of the things we picked up was the hint to come early, park in the Opry Mill Mall (a large shopping mall next door) carpark, get a feed in there before the show so there’s no rush (point 3).
The 3rd, 4th & 5th pics are in the Rainforest Restaurant where we had tea. For avid followers of this blog you might remember I took photos of one of these restaurants back in Florida ( http://volitans.net.au/2018/06/glimpses-of-southern-florida/ ). This chain of shops are fantastic. They sell gifts and souvenirs, have a bar and a decent restaurant as well. But the feature that makes these special are the rainforest decorations with animatronic wild animals, huge gorgeous fish tanks and every 15 minutes they have a clash of thunder and lightening which sets off the animals with authentic cries. You have an experience there not just a meal. Here’s a few seconds on video https://youtu.be/ZohMod6zIFI to give you an idea.
Anyway, after a nice seafood feed we wandered over to the Opry for the show. The show is actually a live radio broadcast (you can get it at home via the I’net) presented in 4 quarters, each with a different host. That host introduces the acts and does some of his own stuff as well. There’s also an announcer on the side who between quarters does live adverts on radio while the stage is rejigged for the next portion. Interval is 15 minutes and like the old time shows you can take your drinks and popcorn in with you. All up it is a fantastic experience.
I will post a picture of the list of performers so you can see who was on this night. We had an absolute ball and neither of us are what you’d call country music fans. The pics are in chronological order so should show up as per the list.
That’s it for this post. I hope you are enjoying our travels as much as we are.
Cheers for now
Garry and Shane.
Related Images:
Hi there. Well we reckon the Blue Ridge mountains was pretty close to the ‘north’. We have covered some 5000 miles so far. We do have a plan. We’re concentrating on this S.E. corner till October. We will head to an old navy mate of mine who lives near Wichita. We’re flying home for Xmas then coming back around Dec29 to start on the S.W. corner.
How are you guys going? Any cruises in the pipeline? Maybe a trip to Australia? Really nice to hear from you. We were only mentioning your names two days ago. Hope all is well. G & S.
Looks like you’re having quite a time in the states. Almost 3 months down and you haven’t even made it out of the South