Our final jaunt around Nashborough (Part I)

And thus concludes our trip to the South.
Yesterday we did a bit of a tour of Nashville, starting with the Ryman Auditorium which was probably the highlight of our time here.  The history of it is amazing, especially that it was slated for destruction in the 90s, even though its acoustics have been regarded as second only to the Mormon Tabernacle. It is a beautiful space and it boasts an amazing and prestigious guest list.  It was a great experience to be able to sit on the re-furbished church pews and imagine what it would have been like to see Johnny Cash or Patsy Cline perform on that vaunted stage.
There was also an impressive collection of signed posters and some of the performers' outfits (man, famous people are quite small).

The Ryman

Afterwards we checked out the lobby of the Union Station Hotel which has to be, hands down, the most beautiful lobby that I've ever been in (my pictures don't do it justice).  Surely - rocking my cut off shorts and my bandanna - I didn't belong there, but security didn't tail me like they did that one time at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, so that was a plus.
We also viewed the War Memorial Auditorium, the Capitol Building and the lobby of the Hermitage Hotel which was also beautiful, and where I used the washroom which had marble floors and cloth hand towels for after you wash your hands, like what rich people do.
We trekked through the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State park and checked out Germantown which was a lot smaller and more over hyped than we had anticipated.  On the way back into our hood, we walked along Music Row which is just a couple of long boulevards of houses that have been converted into recording studios.  Some of them that have landed big talent have banners in front of the houses touting their successes, for example whoever it was that foisted Meghan Trainor upon us.

Printers Alley

We landed in Hillsboro Village and, a bit too tired to make the final trek home, we popped into Sam's Sports Bar which is exactly as quintessential as it sounds.  It was, however, during happy hour and we scored beers for $2.25.  WHAT.  There are many things I love about the States, and one of them is happy hour.  Canadian happy hour is like "for $4 you can get a sleeve of some shit beer, or a 1oz cocktail".  The fun bit was that it started to rain while we were there, but that was okay because the NYR and TB game was on and people were filing it (probably less for hockey and more just to stay dry) and we were quite confident that it would let up.

Bicentennial Capital Mall 

Dude: it did NOT let up.  I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt on an air conditioned patio and - yeah, $2.25 beers are the bomb: but I was getting hypothermic.  By the time we left it was raining so hard it was stupid.  Water was pooling and rushing down the street.  We tried to run but my shorts got so soaked they started falling down so I had to keep on hoisting them up.  My glasses were totally swamped with water and it was dark and I could see where in the hell we were going: it was a shit show, a total deluge.  By the time we got back to Belmont I was soaked to the bone.  The rain actually soaked through my purse and dampened my wallet and the bills therein.  My bra only recently finished drying.  I hung some of my clothes on a door and a puddle pooled underneath them.
It was a good day: I think the best we've had in Nashville.  As always the people were very friendly and willing to give out information to make our trip better.  And as always, we felt shame because Vancouverites are so uptight.
We reckon it has to do with property prices.