Nashville Rocks

After my slightly bumpy start in Nashville things picked up once I got out and about. It was easy to book the car, the walk round the city gave me my bearings and the few hours chat the previous evening meant I again had some company on my sightseeing. I headed back down town with some fellow hotel guests in search of breakfast and something smart casual for one of the girls as she was attending the CMA Awards later that night. Breakfast was a mixed success with our waiter interpreting orange juice as iced tea and bringing only one side of fruit not three, apart from that the food was tasty and we did eventually get the other sides of fruit. A quick look around the main area downtown and we learnt that without a car you can only buy boots (and boots and more boots) and tourist type clothes as all the other stores are further out. However we did find one American Apparel shop which provided my new friend with an appropriate skirt

Having exhausted the shops downtown we headed back uptown and eventually ended up at the Parthenon, the only exact scaled replica of the original Greek Parthenon in the world. It was surprisingly impressive and interesting to see the exhibits inside. There was a series of painting inspired by the women from Greek mythology which had helpful explanations beside them as well as a replica of the statue of Athena from the original Parthenon. I am sure the statue is very impressive and accurate but I found it to be more disturbing than impressive. Scary statue aside it really was a fun trip and worth doing. The grounds surrounding the Parthenon were lovely and made a great autumn walk, especially since it was about 22C. Back at the hostel I invited myself along with some other hostel guest and we headed back downtown. We sampled a few different bars each f which had live bands playing but finally ended up at a duelling piano bar, which was really great fun. As well as the music being great the musicians banter was highly amusing, a great end to a busy day.

Thursday was the big day for me: the visit to Lynchburg Tennessee, the home of Jack Daniels. It was always going to be an emotional day and it was but it was lightened up by the fabulous company I ended up with. One friend agreed to drive us saving me the stress of driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and two more chipped in making a potential expensive and emotional pilgrimage a much cheaper fun day out. I had my moments and I missed having my man with me but it was fabulous to be in the place where Jack is born. The town is tiny and we headed to the visitor centre for lunch and some souvenir shopping before heading to the distillery. The visitor centre is a small squre of shops and restaurants half of which were slightly intimidating and the other half of which were more touristy and therefore less intimidating. The distillery itself was interesting though at time it was difficult to understand out local guide, I though all southerners spoke slowly but this guy got up some speed at times. Translational difficulties aside it was a great tour, I saw the spring where the water for JD comes from (though I didn’t get to taste it) and all the processes including getting a whiff of the pre-matured  JD as it trickled through the charcoal. After the tour I purchased a ‘commemorative’ bottle of single barrel for a special occasion which I will recognise when it happens. It really was a fun day and even though the others had decided to come along on the spur of the moment they enjoyed the random day out too. On the way back from Lynchburg we took advantage of our temporary car ownership to visit Macys and a Kroger Supermarket for supplies. The day ended much like the day before. After getting some diner at a near buy restaurant with one of my new friends we headed in to town with a few other hostel guests and ended up back at the piano bar, it really was good fun there.

Friday was a much quieter day, our driver from the previous day left to head up to Washington DC and the rest of us got to sleet in. I had the added excitement of doing laundry and moving rooms as I had booked my last night separately from my first three. It sounds annoying but it really wasn’t, it was like a pre-packing exercise and my new room was pretty nice. We did head in downtown briefly in search of food and ended up at Hooters for their (in?)famous chicken wings before heading back to the hostel to chill out. I did have the slightly bizarre experience of being ‘interviewed’ by one of my new friends (in inverted commas because mostly I just talked at her) but really we just hung out. With my impromptu interviewer heading to a conference and our driver in Washington I was left alone with the boys which was fine except trying to get them to finish their beers so we could go eat was a bit of a challenge on my own! Beers eventually finished we headed to midtown to get some food and have a few drinks at a more local bar. Once more there was a live band and they were as good as any I heard downtown.

Finally it was my last day in Nashville and my visit ended much as it had begun. After I packed my stuff and stored it I took a walk downtown to visit the capitol and have a last look about. I had lunch at BB Kings Blues bar where and old blues band kept us entertained and I experienced hush puppies for the first time; no not the shoes they are a kind of food over here and yes I was confused too. I don’t know what they are but they were rather tasty, if somewhat sweet and filling. A quick stop to pick up some granola bars for my bus trip and it was back to the hostel to gather my stuff and update you guys. See y’all in New Orleans.