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25th Nov - Nashville - We arrived in Nashville to our first real rain!We decided to take a walk into downtown and get our bearings and whoever is looking after us up there did it again and the rain stopped from when we set off until when we got back to the hotel.The main road in downtown Nashville is called Broadway and has loads of bars and restaurants all playing live country music all day and all night.We found a place called Cadillac Ranch and settled in for burgers and fries with some really amazing country acts.We have never been fans of country music (although sometimes that's all you can find on the radio stations around these areas) but listening to such a variety of live country music was totally amazing and we really enjoyed ourselves.Everyone here (apart from the tourists) wears cowboy hats, cowboy boots and Levi's - we thought it was just a cliché!We were definitely the odd ones out in our trainers!We took a look around the tacky souvenir shops that sell so much Elvis and Johnny Cash merchandise you would not believe it (including Elvis nail clippers, watches and cookery books - deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich anyone?!).On the walk back to the hotel we noticed how many tramps there are in this city (they are called panhandlers here and there are signs everywhere asking you not to give them money).They stopped us numerous times to ask for cash but were always polite, even when we told them we were not giving them anything!
26th - Spent the morning catching up with emails and headed into Nashville to get our bearings in the daytime and have lunch; then in the evening I managed to get Ralph to come with me to see an Elvis impersonator.Expectations were high as the comments he had received for the show from celebrities and people such as Elvis' actual drummer were amazing.If only we could have got a video of our faces when he came out - he looked, and sounded, nothing like him!!We both stared open mouthed for a good few minutes before looking at each other and getting the uncontrollable giggles!He had to be seen to be believed!We managed to get some video footage of him which we will put on the website for you.The worst thing was we were right at the front and I just knew, because we were some of the youngest people there by a mile, he was going to pick me out for something.Every time he came across the stage to us I grabbed Ralph's hand and whispered, "help me", although what I expected him to do I have no idea!Sure enough, after singing to us a few times (during which time Ralph tried to wind him up by looking straight past him at anyone on the stage but him!), he picked up a silk scarf and beckoned me over.I went up in front of everyone and he put it around my neck and said something in Elvis language in my ear and kissed my cheek, transferring all the sweat from his face to mine.Urrggghhh!!We had a real laugh though and in truth his singing did sound more like Elvis' as the night went on (without the assistance of any alcohol).
27th - We woke up to brilliant sunshine and Ralph and I did a deal.He could stay at the hotel and listen to the Nottingham Forest match on the internet while I had a look around Nashville and tried to get tickets for the Opry, as long as he did the blog.The football started and Ralph somehow 'forgot' to do the blog, which is why I am typing this now!!I headed into Nashville to the Ryman Auditorium to try and get tickets for this evening's show.Basically the famous "Opry", which is musical show with numerous country acts, used to play here before it got moved to a much bigger venue further out of town.However the Ryman still have these shows during the winter when the larger venue changes to its Christmas show.Unfortunately the only seats left for that evening's performance were either limited view or were seats which were not next to each other and, inexplicably, we have not had enough of each other yet so I decided against the tickets.It did save us a lot of money as the tickets were quite expensive but it was a bit of a shame as The Blind Boys of Alabama were playing and after seeing a bit of them on You Tube I had been looking forward to seeing them live.Another time perhaps.I decided to have a look at the cowboy boots and found a pair I liked.The boots aren't as cheap as I thought they might be and range from $200.00 to around $400.00.I then went in the next shop and saw a similar pair I liked but they had an offer of "buy one pair and get a pair free".I decided to put off buying them until I had talked to Ralph and seen whether he fancied a pair too.I spent the rest of the day in the shops buying a t-shirt and postcards and then headed back to the hotel just in time for the end of the football.We headed out together to get tickets for a riverboat dinner cruise and show for tomorrow night.While there we went to a restaurant called Aquarium which is a bit like a Rainforest Café but set under the sea where sharks, fish, eels etc. swim past you as you eat.
28th - We took a really long walk round the whole of Nashville, starting with Music Row which is the cosmopolitan area of Nashville where all the music producers live and where all the studios are located.We saw Warner Brothers studios, Sony's studios and many others, and the only surprise was how small they all were.We walked into downtown and around all the shops and along the river front and I got a wolf-whistle on a guitar!!The musician asked me whether I had ever received a wolf whistle on a guitar before and when I said I hadn't he said, "Well, welcome to Nashville".I cannot explain the sound of Nashville.Every bar, saloon, restaurant etc. has live singers and bands playing all the time.When you are on the streets you hear a strange mix of these country, bluegrass and hillbilly musics playing out of the doorways, mixed with other musicians who cannot get to play in the bars and so sit on the streets and play in the hope of a record deal.We took a look at the cowboy boots I had seen the day before and Ralph found a pair that he liked. We went to the counter to pay and the lady looked bemused and explained that the deal was actually "buy one pair and get two pairs free"!!Totally unbelievable!I had to choose another pair of boots and so we ended up with three pairs of cowboy boots for around £104.00.Much more of a bargain that we thought!We got back to the hotel, got ready and headed out for the General Jackson riverboat cruise down the Cumberland River.We were served with hot apple cider before we got on board.We are getting this a lot at the moment in hotels etc. for free, as I think it's a drink that's popular here at Christmas.It's not alcoholic and just tastes like sweet-spiced cinnamon apple.The meal on the boat was salad with raspberry sauce, chicken and shrimp with pork and vegetables and eggnog cheesecake for desert.We were sat with two other couples from the USA and one from Canada who were all interested to here of our adventures.The guy from Canada was great too as he was a pilot for My Travel and had therefore flown to places like Leeds and Teesside (the pilot even said 'where's that accent? Midlands? Yorkshire?' What a guess! Everyone else says 'what cute English accents. Where you from in England?' In the hope you'll say London because that's the only place they've heard of.) The entertainment on the boat was good and mainly consisted of a musical Christmas cabaret - not long to go now!
29th - We spent the day at the Tennessee State Museum which tracks the history of the state from the Native Americans to present day.They have an actual mummy in there that you can get a little too close to comfort for - the guard on duty told us he talks to it most days because, unlike living people, it doesn't talk back.We had a look around the State Capitol Building and the Farmers Market (unfortunately just closed for the day) before heading to the bars for our last taste of live country music in a while.We went to around 5 different places and saw numerous acts but the best has to be the last bar we went into.The guy had a really amazing voice but the place was pretty empty when we went in until a large group of foreign tourists came in.They started asking him to sing songs they knew but their knowledge of country music, like ours, was limited.They also didn't speak much English and in the end asked him to sing something by Dolly Parton!!A rough, tough cowboy singing "9 to 5" has to be one of our Nashville highlights.We managed to get some on video so that will be on the website too soon!! We thought it would be cruel to put on a thick German accent and request 'Stand By Your Man' - wish we had.
30th - We left Nashville and headed south to the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.This was mainly a trip for me as it's my favourite spirit.We had a great time there.It's totally free and you get an hour tour of the place with a guide who is also one of the tasters there.No tasters for us, though, as this is a dry county and therefore we were not able to purchase or drink alcohol here.Even having an open container of alcohol in your car that you may have purchased in another state is a criminal offence.We had to make do with sniffing it instead and we were given a free shot glass in the village before we left. The really bizarre thing is going round a distillery lead by a really proud whiskey connoisseur and at the end being given complementary lemonade and coffee!
1st Dec - In exchange for Ralph having to put up with all the Elvis stuff I will want to see when we head to Memphis tomorrow, we went to the Space and Rocket Museum in Huntsville, Alabama (if you're interested, and I think only Ralph is, this is where Wernher von Braun's rocket team were based and is a shrine to the man that got the US to the moon).We can really tell we are in the south now as in all honesty we find it hard to understand some of the people we come across here!Huntsville is where the development of rockets and the possibility of going to the moon really started out, and so this is known as Rocket City.We only spent a few hours here, as Ralph has been to so many of these places now he knows a lot of what's on display, but there's always more to learn.We spent the rest of the day writing this blog and having a leisurely meal. Tomorrow is a five-hour drive to Memphis and Elvismania - uh-huh!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD - 2nd DECEMBER.
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