Nashville

Ryman Auditorium

Where do I start!  Never been to Nashville and really like the city with all it has to offer.   There is all kinds of music from Country to Rock and all genre's in-between.   Tony and Teresa came to Nashville to spend 3 days with us to explore the city.   

First, Kami's dad said we needed to visit the Ryman Auditorium which is located one block from Broadway street where the bars are located.   This is where music began in Nashville.   It has church pews for seats (6000 seats) which dates back to its religious beginnings (1892).   For those that know progressive music, Primus was playing that night with Black Mountain the day we visited the venue.  Interesting choice of music but the Ryman has been know to promote every type of music out there.   Lastly, Ryman was where the Grand Ole Opry started until it moved in 1974 to the custom built Grand Ole Opry House at Opry Land.   Talking with my mom, she mentioned her dad would listen to the Grand Ole Opry by radio after they where put to bed.  

https://www.ryman.com/history/

Next on our list was the Parthenon.  What? The Parthenon is located in Athens, Greece, right?   Yes, but Nashville held the international expo in 1897 and built a replica of the Parthenon that honors the Goddess Athena.   It was fantastic!  Touring inside, they described the building process and the buildings surrounding it (the other buildings were tore down 6 months after the expo leaving the Parthenon on a large piece of land facing to the side of Vanderbilt University).   Athena stands in the middle of the building as she does in Athens.

FYI, to give you an ideal on the size of Athena.....she is holding Nike (goddess of victory) in her hand and it stands 6'4" tall.  

We went to the Old Smokey Distillery and sampled a few liquors.   They offer a $10 sampling of 7 prechosen whiskeys and a beer to wash each down.  After your tasting they give you a $10 coupon to incentivize you to make a purchase.    Good marketing!

Their best seller and the one I liked the most was the Moonshine Pickle Spears.   They were delicious and a great addition to any sandwich.    Kami took advantage of coupon and bought the Moonshine Pickles along with the Banana Pudding which is cream based (recipe on the jar calls for Hershey Syrup.....I'm in!)   Teresa (pictured up front) bought 12 different flavors and got a cooler in for good measure.   I guess you can tell from the picture she was enjoying the tasting 😆.

Another FYI, the kosher pickles absorb the moonshine so drinking the liquid holding the pickles would be a waste of time.  

Played golf while at local course on the Cumberland River.   Nice to have Kami enjoy the course even though she doesn't play.   I did get some coaching.

 Here are few more pictures from the 6 day stay with captions.

Roof top bar at Kid Rock's Honky Tonk Bar.

Walkway bridge over the Cumberland River with Nashville in background.  Bars are just behind us.

Walk way bridge with Nissan Stadium in the background.   The bridge was converted over to walk way between the stadium and downtown Broadway where the bars are located.   Someone thought this one out.    

On our way to Mammoth Cave National Park to catch up with Kami's girlfriends from high school.  Mammoth has the largest network of underground caves in the WORLD.