5. Tennessee

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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.

'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.

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.