Nice lazy day cruising on the Cumberland river, docking in Nashville in the evening. Overnight then full on in Nashville itself. Started with a tour and history of the town.
Broadway with the music bars, really loud at night.
Tennessee State Hall with the quarrelling architect and city councillor buried at adjacent corners. There's a huge map of Tennessee carved in the paving slabs at the foot of the slope. They have interesting places named. Rivers are made from shiny granite.
One of the most famous recording studies in USA. It was the one that got the music business really started in Nashville. All the big names from Elvis onwards have recorded here.
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Who would have thought that there was a full size replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, complete with a massive statue of Athena with Nike on her hand. Perhaps we should donate the Elgin Marbles to Nashville!
The Marathon automobile manufacturing building has been kept. The interior is rented out to bars, cafes, shops etc, but has kept key parts of the manufacturing equipment and tools. All those rolls on the pegs are the leather belts used to drive the machine tools from an overhead drive shaft powered by a steam engine. The cars are interesting in that they are all right hand drive. Marathon went out of business in 1914 at the hands of Henry Ford, he sold the Model T for $500, the Marathon cost $1200.
This is Dolly's place by Broadway near the river front, the Songteller Hotel.
This is the Grand Ole Opry which is in a newish building on the outskirts of town. It moved there from the city centre Ryman building. Not everyone likes it so far out. Wooden bench seats, views not bad even from a distance.
It's been going 100 years. It is also a live radio show, you can see the radio presenter in box on the left side of stage. She does introductions, interviews some of the performers and does the commercials - "there are 10,000 Dollar Generals in Tennessee and over 200,000 in the USA, get down to DG and improve the value of your life. Our sponsors have donated a DG voucher to the person sitting in seat .......(pause for drama) K54 - loud roars & applause." The quality of the acts were all excellent, even if we didn't know who they were, the atmosphere was great, an enjoyable experience. These were the acts;
- Riders in the Sky
- Sunny Sweeney
- Blake Pendergrass
- Dek of Hearts
- Jade Eagleson
- Charlie McCoy
- Wyatt Flores
- Sister Sadie
Do you know any?
GOO claim the radio show as the longest running. My internet tells me it's the BBC shipping forecast???
That's the Batman Building. No sleep, up early, beat the sun to go to the airport to get the car.
