Nashville [Music City] Getaway

In October, S had a work summit in Nashville and since we both have never visited the city, we decided to fly up the weekend before and check out the scene.  Many people compare Nashville to Austin so we had to see what was up!  We flew up after work on a Friday, grabbed the rental car and then headed to Hayes Street Hotel.

Friendly flying note -  Saltlick BBQ at the Austin airport costs you an arm and a leg (2 sandwiches + soft drinks = ~$40).  I would recommend looking at other options.

Anyway, our hotel was great.  We were lucky and found [free] parking on the street out front and didn't have to pay to valet the car.  Once we checked in, we hung out in the lobby area and listened to a really good singer until she left.

Saturday morning I found a chai at the Vanderbilt Starbucks and passed this very odd art installation piece.

We then toured the "Parthenon".  It's a full size replica of the real deal in Athens, but is constructed of concrete not marble.  We had fun touring the museum inside and seeing some art plus this giant gold leaf Athena statue.

We had lunch at DeSano Pizza Bakery.  It was a recommendation from a friend of Kara & Nate's.  I really enjoyed my pizza as we watched football.

Next up was a quick stop at the Tennessee State capitol building.  It is very small compared to the one in Austin, but had a lovely view from atop a hill.

Looks like a stone R2D2!

The next stop was a self guided tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Elvis' car

Willie exhibit

Museum visiting continued with the Johnny Cash Museum followed by the newly opened Patsy Cline Museum.  Both were great.

The museums were closing so we wondered off to take in the view from the pedestrian bridge and then check out Broadway for some music.  The night wrapped up with some very delicious Italian food near our hotel.

On Sunday we started by touring the Ryman Auditorium.  It is a beautiful space and I'm thankful it is no longer in a state of disrepair.  Now many many people can enjoy touring the building.  My photos are not the greatest, but you get the idea.

Next we had lunch at the trendy Biscuit Love restaurant in the Gulch neighborhood.  Apparently if you drop in a peak times, you wait in forever long lines.  We arrived about 30 mins before closing and waited about 10-15mins.  It was good, but I would not wait much longer than that.  The cheesy grits were yummy tho.

The last stop on our tour of Nashville was at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage.  It was one of my favorite things we did that weekend.  We had a tour of the house and then wondered around the grounds before I had to be dropped off at the airport to return home.  We enjoyed our quick getaway to Nashville!