Here are my tips:
- Country Music Hall of Fame: If you have to pick one do this. I typically spend about 1-2 hours in a museum but we were there for over 4 hours. I think we read it all. I would recommend the audio tour so you don't have to read but it was excellent. I don't typically listen to country music unless it crosses over to the pop charts but I did grow up with it all so I know it well.
- Ryman tour: Nostalgic and interesting tour. I would recommend looking at the venue before you go in case you are able to attend a show. It is a small venue so any seat will be good.
- Grand Ole Opry: We did the backstage tour but I was very disappointed when I learned that Keith Urban would be there the night we were leaving. Definitely see the radio show when you are there. It may not say someone you know but members are required to preform and sometimes they just make a surprise appearance. I was sad we didn't understand that. We didn't know this was the longest running radio show, over 90 years I believe. If we return it will be to see this show.
- Johnny Cash Museum: OK, better if your a Cash fan but price wise the others are more worth it to me. My parents were big fans so it brought back a lot of memories for me which I loved so I'm glad I didn't pass it up.
- Bars: Don't worry about where people tell you to go. They are all basically the same, some more divey (no shade, I love a good dive bar) than others but the key is to walk by and if you like what you hear go in. If there isn't a seat, head up to the roof and check out the other floors as you head up. Don't like it, leave and try another. Since there are no cover charges you can do this. The musicians play multiple venues and can be in multiple bands so you may see them at several places. Also it is not only country, you will hear rock & roll and pop. Genres are crossing, country has crossed over into pop and visa versa, eg Taylor Swift. I didn't learn about her through country even though I learned that is where she started.
- Have bills on hand, $1s and $5s and when you love them give them more especially if you stay for their set. They rely on tips since they don't get paid by the bar. I say $1, not so you only give a dollar but depending on when their set is ending you may walk in right before the tip bucket is passed and if you have $1s you can give them a few.
- Drinks: Drinks are a measured 1 oz., not as strong as I like so I didn't catch a buzz but that also allows you to drink all day, 10am to closing :) I try not to get drunk on vacation because I hate a wasted next day.
- Food: Not the food mecca I always hope for, Hot Chicken (fried chicken with hot sauce, think hot wings sorta) is what Nashville is known for. They also have BBQ, which we tried once at a place on Broadway but I wasn't impressed. It was chopped dry pork and the Mac & Cheese however very creamy was more like the blue box version, not a lot of flavor. I did however have mac and cheese at another place for dinner and it was excellent, more adult with the garlic flavor. What I missed while there was veggies. We are use to sandwiches or bar type food for lunch but we have healthier dinner meals but all we had was bar food. On a positive note when you drink all day you need sustenance, bread or foods that soak up booze and you don't want to walk into a nice restaurant half lit so it all works out. Luckily our hotel included breakfasts and they were very good. It also allowed us to forgo the decisions of where to go first thing in the morning.
- Walk ability: The downtown area is totally walk able and although I saw lots of heals I couldn't imagine wearing them. I went comfy. We even walked back from The Gulch after riding the Hop on Hop off trolley tour to get there but it's a short Uber ride. The Grand Ole Opry however is not in walking distance but less than a $20 uber ride. If you are adverse to walking scooters are everywhere just be careful. I saw one girl who had crashed and that would make for a bad vacation. The Parthenon is also not walk able, we took the trolley over. Since I left my trolley pass with the Parthenon pass in it on the trolley, I was too much of a wreck to really enjoy the mosaic gallery so we took a pix of the large statue inside and caught the next trolley out. They were so nice to let me into the museum for free, the trolley let me back on without my pass and they found my pass by the end of our ride.
- Murals: Look at them online and get the addresses of the one's you like. I saw the famous wings but there were others that I should have noted the address.
- Weather (in May): We lucked out after feeling how hot it must get as it gets closer to summer. It was overcast our trip which I was not happy about especially when it was drizzling but on the one blue sky day the sun was blistering. I don't like it too hot and I hate humidity. Even tough it was overcast my hair was a frizzy mess because of the humidity and it was extremely mild. An umbrella can be hard because of the crowds so a rain jacket with a hood may be better.
- Pictures: Your camera phone is fine. I carried around my Canon Rebel camera but I didn't find enough opportunities to take the kinds of pictures I like using my better camera. I like architecture, historical sites, flowers and murals (which they have many) but the pictures I ended up with are not pictures I will blow up and frame. They are more memories and social media photos so a good camera phone is fine. The think I missed were the neon signs at night. I wish I would have gotten night time pictures of them.
- One refreshing thing was that the people were enjoying their time in Nashville with the people they came with or met there. They were not spending time on their phones, taking selfies or recording the musicians. I can count on my hands how many people I saw focusing inward on themselfs or providing updates to their online friends. It was GREAT!
"forgot to post this back in May, oops"
No comments:
Post a Comment