That's not to say I won't be talking at all about traveling. In fact, I have a number of trips planned for the next couple of months. My most recent trip was to Nashville to visit a friend in her last semester at Vanderbilt law. It was her birthday weekend and I wanted to visit Nashville (for the first time!) before she graduated.
I could not leave early from work so I got to Nashville around 9 pm CST. I even left a few minutes late from work and had a hard time getting to the train/finding a cab. The ride to the airport was a bit nerve-wracking because of that. My friend was on crutches and we were both a little tired. Thus, we decided to stay in on Friday night.
Saturday was a jam-packed Nashville-filled day. We started with brunch at Fido, a dog-themed brunch place. It looked like a pet store from the outside, with an old sign on top of the actual restaurant's sign. The table markers were all pictures of local dogs, with little facts like "my dog sneezes a lot when he gets excited." I got a steak omelet with a side of cheese grits. I definitely recommend the cheese grits, they were creamy but also had a bit of a kick. The kick wasn't until the end of the bite, so it didn't obscure the actual taste of the grits.
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| The view from the window at Fido |
We went to Bookman Bookwoman after that. BMBW is a cute little bookstore owned by a husband-wife duo. It is essentially two bookstores in one. I bought The Southerner's Handbook: The Guide to Living the Good Life, published by Garden and Gun. I am sure I would not have bought this book if I was still living in the South, but it was a nice reminder of my roots.
Next, we went to the Ryman Auditorium for a tour. It is called the "Mother Church of Country Music" since it originally began as a church. Once Lula C. Naff took over the management, she used it as a multi-purpose venue, hosting ballet, opera, political fights, and boxing. It later was the host of the Grand Ole Opry radio show when the show hit it off in popularity. We took a backstage tour and heard stories about Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and Minnie Pearl. It was a fascinating tour, and our tour guide was fantastic!
We watched the Carolina game after that at the Crow's Nest. It was pretty unremarkable, although Carolina won the game. Yay!
Next stop: the Bluebird, a Nashville icon. The bluebird is an "as seen on tv" landmark, as it is prominently featured on the hit tv show Nashville. The cafe has an in-the-round setting on many nights. This means that a few artists (in this case, two duos and a solo artist) sit in a circle and each play one song per round, going around in the circle again and again. They all harmonize with each other, and talk in between the songs, which makes for a nice collaborative atmosphere. It was a very intimate atmosphere, where the artists could hear our normal conversation, which was much different than other concerts I've been to recently. We did not have reservations, but the venue has a standby-line which we used. It was much colder in Nashville than I expected it to be, but we survived the cold and hunger, and were two of maybe 25 people to get access to the show.
This particular night featured David Bradley, Justin and Jamie, and Chasin' Jayme. They also brought two different solo artists up during the night, and on the last song, David's wife joined in the harmony. Both guest artists were spontaneous invitations: one was an old friend that they had spotted in the audience and the other was a newcomer to the Nashville scene. One of the guys was having a hard time with his guitar, so they needed to stall in order for him to fix it. David (who was sort of emcee-ing this production) announced that he had been talking to someone before the show that said he had just moved here and was trying for a music career. He got to come up and sing two songs, which his mom (who was with him) greatly enjoyed.
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| The Bluebird's in-the-round session |
After the bluebird, we still had much if the night ahead of us. To celebrate my friend's birthday, we put our names on the list at Patterson House, a speakeasy-reminiscent bar. The wait there was about an hour so we walked (or hobbled) to Red Door Tavern. This was more of a college bar, and is where I felt old for the first time. It was incredibly loud and crowded and not many people seemed particularly interested in helping someone on crutches navigate to a table. We only stayed there for one drink, partially because of how long it took the bartender to notice me at the bar.
Patterson House was a great departure from that atmosphere. It was quiet: the seating area was segmented off from the waiting room by a large curtain. We sat at the bar, which was in the middle of the room, so had seating on all four sides. There were also many niches where larger parties could sit at tables. The speakeasy atmosphere was very cool, from the bartenders' attire to the crafted cocktails. I had an amazing bacon old fashioned and we ate an order of deviled eggs. I told them it was my friend's birthday so they brought out half an order of their house-made doughnuts, which she said were incredible. I think the wait is worth it at this place, particularly since if you have a large party, they will text you when your table is ready. We had heard that there might be a picture-taking ban here, so we were scared to take too many, but got a few of our food, of course.
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| Birthday donuts! |
She wanted me to see Broadway at night so we went to Robert's Western World next. This completed the spectrum of all the various music places we went to: a honky tonk was the last space on my Nashville bingo. The band all looked like they were imitating a certain artist: the lead singer looked like Johnny Cash and the keyboardist had his hair styled like Jerry Lee Lewis. This was mostly a good place for people watching, since we couldn't actually dance. We even saw one guy that was dressed up just like Sgt. Pepper. The crowd was a little older, but everyone was very friendly, and almost everyone else was dancing at various intervals.
On Sunday, we decided to have a more relaxed day. We went boot shopping in the morning, and if you are looking to buy multiple pairs of boots at one time or have multiple people looking to buy boots, Broadway is your best bet. Tons of places were having multi-boot deals. We both ended up buying a pair of boots at Betty's, where the boots we wanted (the same pair) were on a good sale (one that did not require multiple purchases.)
Our final stop was Pinewood Social, another hipster-y spot. This was a restaurant/coffee shop/bowling alley that would soon add a bocce ball playground and a pool -- a true all-in-one. I did not love the coffee, but I added almond milk, so I may blame it on that. I got the smoked trout omelet and my friend got the buckwheat waffles. We agreed both were incredible.
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| Pinewood menu |
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| These cans were an integral part of the decor, including their use as bill holders |
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| Bowling alley |
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| Paint cans lined up alongside the bowling lanes. I thought the heart was cute until I looked closer |
I will definitely go back to Nashville, it was a very fun city with a variety of things to do. If you like music, even if country music isn't necessarily your thing, it's definitely a bucket-list destination.
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