Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 19 Summer 2011 Road Trip

We are off on another tour this morning, so we woke up at 7am and went for breakfast.

Gray Line Tours of Nashville will be picking us up at 8:30am.  Anytime we have done a Grey Line Tour we have been very satisfied.  These tours are a great way to get an overview and then you can go back on your own to further check things out.

We started our Discover Nashville tour by driving past the statue commemorating the Founding of Nashville.

9461 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - The Founding of Nashville - James Robertson & John Donelson statue 9462 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - The Founding of Nashville - James Robertson & John Donelson statue

Drove past the Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators.

9463 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Bridgestone Arena

We got off the bus at the Ryman Auditorium for a tour inside.  The Grand Ole Opry was broadcast from the Ryman between the years of 1934 to 1974.

9465 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium 9468 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium 9469 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium

The Ryman Auditorium was built by Thomas Ryman (a riverboat captain) and first opened in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle.

9470 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium 9471 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium 9473 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium

The name was changed to the Ryman Auditorium to honour Thomas Ryman after his death in 1904.

There is a lot of country music memorabilia in the Ryman, including this collection from Johnny Cash.

9476 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium - Johnny Cash & June Carter display 9477 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium - Johnny Cash & June Carter display 9479 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium - Johnny Cash & June Carter display

Outside the Ryman is a statue of Thomas Ryman.

9489 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium -Thoams Green Ryman statue 9488 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium - Thomas Green Ryman plaque

Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff share some laughs at the Ryman.

9484 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium - Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl 9485 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - Ryman Auditorium - Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl

The AT&T “Batman” Building and the US Bank Building.

9491 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - at&t 'batman' building 9492 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - US Bank building

Back on the bus we drove past the State Capitol Building.

9496 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - the State Capitol Building 9497 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - the State Capitol Building 9498 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - the State Capitol Building

We then drove through Centennial Park where there is a full size replica of the original Greek Parthenon.

9500 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville -Centennial Park 9504 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Centennial Park - the Parthenon, a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens 9508 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Centennial Park - the Parthenon (from the side), a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens

The next stop is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  You could spend all day here, we were allowed 1 hour.  I will just post a few photos here, you know where to go to find all the photos.

9514 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum 9642 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum 9520 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - memorabilia of Patsy Montana, Gene Autry & Tex Ritter

9552 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - memorabilia - Elvis Presley's Gold Piano 9601 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - picture of Ernest Tubb 9629 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - The Hall of Fame Rotunda - Elvis Presley plaque

Back on the bus, we headed to our last stop of the day.  Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.  A popular “Honky Tonk” bar in Nashville.  This place is small, and over crowded, we walked in and walked back out, too busy for us.

9652 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street - Tootsies Orchid Lounge 9654 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street - Tootsies Orchid Lounge 9655 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street - Tootsies Orchid Lounge

Back out on the street, I took some photos of the colourful neon signs that are along Broadway Street.

9657 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street -The Second Fiddle Honky Tonk 9659 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street - Robert's Western World Honky Tonk Grill 9666 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street - Legends Corner

Karen posed with Elvis.

9658 Nashville, Tennessee - Discover Nashville Tour - downtown Nashville Broadway Street - Elvis & Karen

We headed back to our hotel and got ready for dinner.  This evening we dined at Johnny A’s, it was highly recommended, but we were disappointed.  I will write a review on this restaurant and post it.

9668 Nashville, Tennessee - John A's  9668a Nashville, Tennessee - John A's

So that concludes our day.  There are many photos on FLICKR for your viewing enjoyment.

2 comments:

  1. Great post, guys! I really like the "Batman Building."

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  2. Looks like you're getting a very nice overview of Nashville. Yes, Tootsie's can sometimes be too busy for anyone. Yogi's, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." seems apt. But I'm glad you got a look. The Honky Tonks and their Ryman connection are an important part of Nashville. Today you can still see some incredible talent playing for tips along Broadway. I guess the tours and it's own success have often make Tootsie's too crowded even in the afternoon but other Honky Tonks, like The Stage, Roberts, and Second Fiddle, can be very comfortable places for some great free music before the night shift of partiers shows up.

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