Month: February 2015
Location: Nashville
In the week prior to my visit,
Nashville was hit by a severe ice storm that brought the entire city to a
standstill. In fact, my trip would have
been cancelled were that to have happened the weekend that I was
travelling. But the weather cleared up
and I arrived in Nashville on a sunny morning.
As I took a cab from the airport to my hotel, the driver told me about
their ordeal the previous weekend and how everything there was plenty of ice still around. And he wasn’t kidding. As I got out of the cab and looked around,
the sidewalks were covered by a thick slab of ice, reminding me of an ice rink. Yeah, this was going to be interesting.
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| Ice Ice Everywhere |
Unlike some of my other travels,
I had not made any plans regarding what to do now that I was here – except one
for tomorrow. I looked online for some
places to eat and found a country-style diner a little over a mile away. The map showed a path through some park and I
set-off…only to encounter more ice. As I
resorted to every tactic to avoid stepping on ice, there came a point where
there were stairs leading down to the street below and every step was a block
of ice. That’s when I called it quits
and came back to the hotel. I asked the
concierge on options to eat and he mentioned a place called ‘Puckett’s Grocery’. Now, the name suggested a grocery store with
a food court, but it was a restaurant all right…and what a place. After a strong Martini – hey it’s 5 o’clock
somewhere – and a “Hot Chicken Sandwich”
– a Nashville specialty – I was ready to tackle the city.
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| 'Ryman Auditorium' |
As I entered the heart of the
downtown, it was still nasty on the streets.
I came across an indoor market with its local eating places and also a
Coffee Shop named ‘Frothy Monkey’,
which is one of the popular places in the city.
My first impression of the place was the word “cool”. I grabbed a “Turtle Mocha” and sat in an upstairs
area to strategize the rest of my day. If
Nashville is known for anything, it is ‘Country
Music’. While I personally do not
listen to it a great deal, the city is full of historical places and
institutions that warrant a visit, one of them being the ‘Grand Ole Opry’, which is a few miles from the downtown area. I had initially booked a car, but had
cancelled it after the weather havoc of the previous week. This made visiting ‘Grand Ole Opry’ a bit of a ride in a cab. But there was something even better in
downtown – the historic ‘Ryman
Auditorium’, the birthplace of the ‘Opry’
before it moved to its new home.
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| Minnie Pearl's 'Hall of Fame' plaque |
I bought a ticket for a guided
tour –including a visit to the dressing rooms which almost all of the great
country stars have frequented. It is an awe
inspiring view as one enters the amphitheater that is the main auditorium. With semi-circular arrangement of wooden rows
– that resemble pews – and a balcony that feels like it’s right above the
stage; this can be both, an intimidating, as well as an exhilarating arena for
the performers. Our tour guide told us
about how the days of the ‘Opry’ over
here and stories of the great artists, including the anecdote about Minnie
Pearl and her famous hat with the $1.98 price tag. The story goes that she was a comedienne who
was a beloved on this stage, and known for her extravagant floral hats. On one occasion she did not have flowers for
her hat and so her assistant got some artificial flowers that went on the top
of a regular hat. After another rousing
performance, as she bowed to the applauding audience, a $1.98 price tag popped
out of the artificial flowers and hung in front of her face. Rather than be embarrassed, she made a joke
out of it and to the audience’s credit, they accepted that as a part of her
persona. That led to the price tag being
a constant addition to her act from then on, so much so that there are
memorabilia sold with that tag and even her ‘Hall
of Fame’ plaque has the engraving of the tag hanging from a hat.
Another anecdote about the plaque is that of all the deceased performers
honored in the ‘Hall of Fame’, hers
is the only plaque without a ‘Year of
Death’ since she believed in living forever in the hearts of her fans. We
heard many such stories, especially as we walked through the fantastic dressing
rooms, some which had been customized for their famous guests. Later on we got to see the stage from the
side and as the guided portion of the tour concluded, I walked around the
showcases lining the balcony and containing the dresses that many performers
wore on the stage. It had been a great
exposure to the history of this place and a wonderful way to spend an
afternoon.
The weather was getting a bit
dodgy and so I headed back to the hotel.
In the evening I came down to go get something to eat but freezing rain
was coming down and the sidewalks were slushy. This made walking an almost
impossible proposition and the best I could do was make it to ‘Morton’s Steakhouse’ a block away. I had traveled all this way to end up in a
place which I can go to in Chicago whenever I want. It’s never really the location, but what you
do with it that’s important. I was lucky
to come across a friendly bartender and I spent my time there chatting and
discussing my travels as well as things to do in Nashville. One of those things is going to a live music
place, but with the weather the way it was, that would not be happening this
evening.
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| Watching the rain with Hot Chocolate |
The next day dawned overcast and the
forecast called for rain later on in the afternoon. The concierge had not been kidding when he
had named ‘Puckett’s Grocery’ as the
place to visit for food and just as I was wrapping up a southern brunch over
there, the rain arrived. I was armed
with my umbrella and so walked up to the riverfront, but once again encountered
my nemesis on this trip – ice. I had
some time to kill before my appointment in the afternoon and I was looking for
some sort of shelter as well. That came in the
form of a tiny establishment which advertised “Hot Chocolates From Around The World”. There are few pleasures of life that are
simpler than sitting at the window of a coffee shop while sipping hot chocolate
and watching the rain. Nothing else that
I could have done this morning would have topped that.
I called an ‘Uber’ because I was headed to place a bit outside of downtown, for
an activity called ‘Escape The Room – Nashville’. From the time I participated in a similar
game in Chicago, I have been a fan of this, where you are locked in a room with
strangers and have an hour to solve the clues, and find the key to escape. Besides the one in Chicago, I have
participated in 3 such rooms in New York City and my record is 4-0, having
escaped all of them. As I waited for the
game to commence, I chatted with the staff members and looked at their push-pin
maps – both Domestic and World – which showed the people who had played this
game. Based on that, it certainly looked
like a popular attraction. My team
arrived – 3 other couples who were also visitors and we got acquainted. Once inside the room, we worked really well
together and despite some complexities, managed to escape with a few minutes to
spare. My record was still intact.
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| '6-Word Song Title' |
My next destination was the most
famous of them in town – ‘The Country
Music Hall of Fame’. As I roamed
through the building, even a person like me who is on the fringes of country
music, couldn’t help but be fascinated by the way it has been done. It is a style of music rich in history and I
was captivated by the exhibits and the stories.
The main room was the rotunda which has plaques of all inductees lining
its walls and it was truly a privilege to visit this place. However the most memorable thing from my
visit here were two noticeboards which had hundreds of ‘Post-It’ notes on them. One
was an encouragement to post an answer to, “Who
is your dream Duet Partner? What Song would you sing together” and the
second was “Write your own six-word title
that describes your life. Leave it as an
inspiration to others or take it with you as a reminder of your visit to the
museum”. I contributed to both of
the lists and those will remain there as a token of my visit to this amazing place.
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| The magnificent 'The Parthenon' |
It was raining, but I was on the “Music Row”, meaning there was one thing
to do – go into the bars for some live music, including the famous “Tootsies”. All the places were as lively as you would
expect them to be and I visited a few before heading for dinner to – you
guessed it, ‘Puckett’s Grocery’ yet
again. It had become my favorite and for
good reason. The next day my flight was
in the evening and I wanted to visit one of the other attractions of Nashville
– ‘The Parthenon’. This is a building, very much like the one in
Greece that is thousands of years old.
The only difference is that this one is still in one piece. I was dropped off at one of the entrances and
as has been the norm this trip, found my way blocked by ice. After navigating through this I learnt that
building was still closed and so waited in a nearby ‘Starbucks’ till opening time.
I walked back there at 11 am and it truly is a magnificent sight as you
approach the building, very unlike anything that you can expect in
Nashville. Inside, is a giant – and I
mean giant – statue of ‘Athena’, the “Greek Goddess" after whom the city of Athens is named. It is an amazing
landmark and I was glad to have come.
Prior to leaving, I decided to
spend the afternoon in the familiar setting of the ‘Frothy Monkey’. It was a
nice relaxing end to the trip and I took a cab back to the airport satisfied
that I had made the most of my visit. Sure
the weather had been terrible and the conditions weren’t quite convenient for
walking. But I had enjoyed myself
thoroughly and had come to appreciate the rich heritage of ‘Country Music’. Nashville
has most definitely been one of the highlights of my ‘51/51’ quest and I look forward to returning back someday.
