Bill had a small load to deliver in Kentucky and thought it would be fun if I were to ride along. The idea was to spend a few days exploring Nashville after he made his delivery. Of course I said "yay!". Here we are preparing to leave.
He figured we could arrive at the Gaylord Opryland and check in when we got to Nashville. This was, unfortunately, not the case. They were booked solid. We were able to get a room at the Radisson across the street from Opryland, but they only had rooms with double beds available. We got in around midnight and slogged up to the room.
In the course of my travels with Bill, we've stayed in a variety of hotels, from near-dumps to the exquisite. It's been my experience that as long a room has a few basics, it's just fine. Luggage rack, so I don't have to dig through my bag on the floor. Check.
A chair. This is where Bill sits to review paperwork and such.
A coffee maker is a must-have.
A hair dryer.
So having made sure the room had all of our needs fulfilled, we went to sleep - dead tired. Bill had to get up very early to head to Kentucky, which left me alone for the day to explore. Unfortunately, it was very cold and rainy so I mostly stuck to the Radisson. Here is their indoor pool.
We did not enjoy our experience at the Radisson. First, although there was a coffee maker in the room, note the tiny size of the produced coffee. After drinking my little cup of coffee, I headed to the lobby to find some more. There was an Applebee's inside the hotel, and apparently they were supposed to serve breakfast (and coffee). I stood around in Applebee's for a while, ignored by the staff. Then I wandered over to the front desk, hoping for coffee. Fortunately, a housekeeper was standing there, too, and said she had some in her office. She took my big Pilot mug and went and filled it. Thank you so much! I went over to the mall, and then explored the Gaylord for a while. We ended up leaving there and staying across the street from there at the Guesthouse, which, while it doesn't look as nice, was a much more pleasant experience. See Bill peeking out from behind the column?
We had appetizers here at John A's and were so impressed that we went back for dinner. Great food. Great service. Nice atmosphere. Highly recommended!
We headed over to check into the Gaylord Opryland (our third hotel on this little mini-vaca!) but since it wasn't yet check-in time, decided to take the Gray Line Tour of Nashville. Here's our little bus.
First stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame. I didn't notice that the building had a piano motif until I looked at the pictures I had taken!
This is the lobby. They had live music and a little snack shop. We had a hot dog, then entered the hall of fame.
There were a bunch of cars in there. Bill is standing by one, but I don't remember whose this was :(
Elvis's gold piano was less than impressive. It looked like someone had taken some cans of spray paint to a regular piano!
Hee-Haw!
Many many gold and platinum records were on every wall of this place!
"Oy... The getups these guys wore...." Bill whispered.
Here's Bill with Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner.
These originals of song lyrics were really neat. You can see where they changed their minds about the lyrics and so on.
Here we are with Waylon! No flash photography was allowed, so a lot of these are blurry.
A bear? What's a bear doing in the Country Music Hall of Fame? Well, this particular bear was shot by Hank Williams.
Look at those claws.
Next it was on to the Ryman Theater, home of the Grand Old Opry for over thirty years. In fact, the GOO was only recently moved over to the Gaylord Opryland complex, but will be back here at the Ryman at the end of this year.
Ryman theater box office.
Inside.
View from the first floor toward the back. The bottom of the balcony hangs sort of low!
The Ryman Theater was originally designed as a church!
Johnny and June display.
Neat perspective heading upstairs.
The hallway upstairs is covered with various exhibits about people who have performed there.
And playbills. I was surprised at the diversity of performers.
Outside, our tour guide snapped this picture for us.
This is the AT&T building, or as the guide said, the Batman Building!
After a short trip on the bus, we arrived at Nashville's full scale replica of the Parthenon. Who knew?!?
This building is where Taylor Swift just bought a 4-1/2 million dollar condo.
Now we arrived downtown. This is the world famous Tootsies, where Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson lived for a while, and wrote many songs sitting at the bar. We know this because there was a little video playing on the bus and Willie and Kris recounted some old stories of their time here.
Bill and Elvis did a duet.
I was too shy to join in...
This is downtown. It reminded me of New Orleans in a way (I guess a lot of places do).
It's so hard to find a hot dog AND a pair of flip flops at the same place...
Bill's contemplating this piece of art. Looks like part of a roller coaster, huh?
It was a nice day and people were out enjoying the weather.
This sign over the street says "Printer's Alley". Many printers are headquartered here.
Inside Tootsie's. Ooops! Should have put this picture up higher :)
Jimi Hendrix? On the country music walk of fame?!?
The Wildhorse Saloon.
ha ha ha
This guy was doing caricatures outside the Wild Horse. He was pretty good, but we had no time. The bus was picking us up.
Finally, we checked in at Galord Opryland. Amazing place. Several atrium areas were inside, all with water features and lush greenery. This is the Cascades section, where our room was.
The top floor (with balconies) toward the right of this picture is our room. Beautiful!
The bed. Looked great but as it turned out was very squeaky and loud. Hey, get your mind out of the gutter! When Bill turned over at night, the noise woke me up! And vice versa. This is also the place to get a $38 sandwich from room service.
View onto the balcony from inside our room. Lovely. And we could hear the waterfall.
View from the balcony.
The waterfall.
Bill wanted a burger at Stax. Here it is.
Pardon me, have you any Grey Poupon?
Exploring around the hotel. It's just miles of beautiful walkways and greenery.
This, too, was inside the hotel. The party-down district. Woot!
A techno club. We did not go inside.
Nice shops and stores abound.
This is the Delta Atrium, where a few of the restaurants were located. Unfortunately, you could starve to death trying to get a table anywhere inside the Gaylord Opryland (except for the burger joint). And the Jack Daniels restaurant was closed for a private function. If you plan to go here - MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR DINNER!
The Garden Conservatory was yet another atrium area. Lovely. Very European. But no waterfall.
This is back in Cascades Atrium, where our room was.
These little guys were just outside Hagen Daz. Cute.
Next morning, we hung out till check out time enjoying the sights and sounds.
It really was very beautiful and relaxing. We loved downtown Nashville and also our Gray Line tour. And the hotel, while the service was lacking, was absolutely stunning to look at. Another trip done. Thanks Bill!
