And Presenting....Nashville

*backblip*

We arrived in Nashville pretty late on the Saturday night and we were absolutely exhausted.  The trip via Atlanta was a lot longer than I think I had anticipated.  Transferring at Atlanta Airport was a breeze though - that place is so well set up for international connections.  

We settled into the hotel and had a relatively quiet one with Steve nipping out to get us some taco bell (ding ding ding - there are so many Taco Bell's that we ding dinged as we passed them) for dinner in the room.

The first day was pretty jam packed with adventure with us heading out to the Grand Ole Opry  for the backstage tour which was pretty awesome.  We got to see some of the dressing rooms which are all themed and country music stars have their preferences.  It was really interesting to hear all about the history of the Opry and how people get inducted.  We also got to see some things from the TV show Nashville as well as some places the show is filmed.  Also got to strut the stage - this picture is taken from the wings.

After this we went to Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage.  It was really interesting to read about this President.  I guess like most presidents his legacy seemed to be mixed with good stuff - responsible for leading the American's against the British in the Battle of New Orleans, but then also he was responsible for signing the proclamation that meant the forced removal of many of the indigenous population which was obviously horrible.

The recurrent theme of this trip was often related to how horrific people can be to one another, or to another group of humans but I am sure we will revisit this.

The house and architecture was interesting and also the family graves on the site.  It was a beautiful location and I do find it genuinely interesting learning about American History.

After this we then left to drive to Belle Meade Plantation on the other side of Nashville.  Again, beautiful house, really interesting tour and currently they are running this research program to try to get the histories of the black slaves that had been on the plantation.  While the white plantation owners have good documentation on their stories and histories there are none/ very little on the black people.  This is something that needs to be rectified so I wish the research program well.

The house tours are provided by someone with great knowledge and also in costume - I think Scottish and English heritage tours should also be delivered in costume....

After the house tour there was some wine tasting - delicious!  In the gift store a couple asked us where we were from and then spent ages giving us tips and just generally chatting away.  People in the South are ultra friendly which takes a bit of getting used to.

The final stop off of the day was to the Blue Bird Cafe which I had seen in movies like "The Thing called Love"  and also in the aforementioned TV show "Nashville" so it has always been on the To Do List.  Having read reviews online and knowing that Sunday and Monday are reservation free - first come first served basis I highly doubted we would get in as Steve hates queuing for anything.  The venue was so close to the Plantation that it seemed stupid to not even at least have a look.

It looked all quiet outside and so we wandered up to the door and in - sure enough, got a table for two right by the stage!  I was actually shaking with excitement.  The band playing were called Sons 'N Britches and were pretty good.  The whole venue is known as a "listening room" which means that you are asked to keep quiet while people are playing but this isn't a problem with it being such a small venue, plus the band is quite chatty and encourages a bit of chatter.

Great experience.

We then spent the evening walking down one of the main streets soaking up the atmosphere where every bar had live bands and music - even on a Sunday!

Fun and busy first day all round.