What would a week in Music City be without a trip to the Grand Ole Opry. Personally I am not a big country music fan, I much prefer the great rock ’n roll of the 50s and 60s but I do sometimes enjoy the old stuff…you know like Hee-Haw used to play. So I bought tickets for the Opry County Classics at the “Mother Church" of country music, the Ryman Auditorium. Tom and I went to a show here last April but we were way up in the balcony. This time we were in row 4, right up front! The show was everything we expected. Larry Gatlin, the MC, started the show with a classic and was soon dancing with a few women in the audience and then grabbed Tom’s hand a whirled him too (I wish I had a picture of at!). Everyone got a good laugh. Larry’s brothers, Rudy and Steve also performed with him, a few gospel favorites then ending “All the Gold in California" and an audience sing along. Sarah Darling performed a fabulous rendition of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy" that bought the house down. There were a few other performers I was not familiar with and Larry did a few “fun and games" quizzes with the audience. The final act was Laurie Morgan. She is a great performer. All in all it was a fun concert and one I would recommend to anyone visiting Nashville. Before the show Tom and I had BBQ at Jack’s, excellent brisket, said to be the best in Nashville, and did a little bar crawl to listen to some up and coming performers.

I had planned on Friday to go downtown and take to hop-on-hop-off tour bus of the city but it was cloudy, rainy and cold in the morning. It seemed best to stay put, walk the dogs, read my book and watch a little TV. In the afternoon, when it was a bit warmer, I took a walk to the nearby Mcdonald’s for some exercise…do you think the mild shake negated the health benefit of the walk?

Saturday morning was beautiful! Sunny, warm, the trees blooming and the birds singing. Speaking birds, I have a robin that is determined to build her nest on the RV ladder. I have removed it twice but this morning it was back again. She is going to be really surprised when we drive away with her nest on Tuesday.

Walk, play feed…my duties to the girls completed I caught the shuttle downtown. There were several Nashville sights I wanted to visit. The eases way was to take the Hop-on, Hop-off bus passing all of the major locations. There were a few I definitely wanted to visit. The tour starts on lower Broadway in the heart of the Honky Tonk district then heads towards the State Capitol situated high on a hill overlooking the city. Near the Capitol is the Bicentennial Mall State Park, celebrating Tennessee’s 200 years of statehood in 1997. My first hop-off. The park is long and narrow using land that was not suitable for tall building it provides a wonderful view of the Capitol Building. Some of the highlights are a fountain signifying the 17 rivers of Tennessee, a series of black marble tablets recording the history of the state, WWII Memorial and a marble slab map of Tennessee. Across from the Park is the Farmers’ Market, where all of the products are made of locally sourced ingredients. I found a Jeni’s Ice Cream stand that served some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted…Goat’s Milk Cherry! Yum Yum! The next stop was the old Marathon Automobile factory, now a group of shops including Antique Anthropology home of the American Pickers. (Actually just one of their small shops not the main store.) I had fun poking around and did make a few little purchases for our grandson, Gus. The other shops were interesting, I found an unusual pair of earrings and necklace for myself. Hopping back on the next available trolley we passed Nelson’s Green Briar Distillery, according to the driver this was largest maker of Tennessee Whisky until forced to close in 1909 when the state went dry. In 2009 the g-g-g-grandsons of Charles Nelson, the founder, reopened the distillery and requested the old designation of Distillery #5 meaning it was and is the oldest in the state.

The next stop was just amazing. An exact replica of the Parthenon in Athens, built in Nashville, the Athens of the South, in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition. Similar to a World’s Fair the Exposition had exhibits from around the world, an amusement park and gardens for attendees to enjoy. All of the other exhibits were removed at the end of the fair but Nashville decided to preserve their Parthenon, Built of wood lath, brick and plaster it began to fall apart by the 1920s so the city rebuild it of permanent materials. It is amazing! The interior is just a spectacular, housing on the lower level the permanent of the art collection of James M. Cowan. The main level is stunning, containing a 42’ statue of Athena. Coming up the steps the visitor is stunned by her. Also on this level are casts of the famous Elgin Marbles used to create the pediments the front and rear of the building.