Here we are in Nashville, the place that seems to be Rosie and The Operators lucky charm. Connecting flights via Houston with United Airlines went like a dream, even with tight connections, fly time was even half an hour quicker on each flight than advertised. Our rental car was upgraded at no charge because they had no cars available in the budget model we paid for…although as The Operator says, it is still a Chevy Impala. The luckiest thing about Nashville…The Operator got a call from the rental car company….you remember that bag Rosie and The Operator lost when we first arrived in Houston, in the first half an hour after stepping off the plane. Well, it had been handed in and the rental car company couriered it to Nashville. With trepidation The Operator opened it and did a stock take…
…..Rosie’s glasses and stinky flight socks, well, expected them to be there. Rosie’s make up…oh yes, no worries there she has spares. The Operators iphone, yay! Our travel documents with our e tickets, we had them replaced, thank you Hawera Travel….and a TSB foreign exchange bag with $1500 US dollars cash in it…all present and accounted for. Super Yay!!! That rental car lass and her colleagues are going to have a fine after work drinks or morning tea for a week on Rosie and The Operator. So grateful to them.
We are staying at the Hotel Indigo, right around a quiet corner from the main drag of Broadway, the awesome Check in Lady went above and beyond to tell us about everything we must see in the city during our stay.
She told us where the best bars are that have the best bands, where the best BBQ and Hot Wings are, the sights we cannot miss seeing, where the best diners are and what time the band starts in the Hotel Bar…’amazing’ said Rosie, ‘even in the hotel bar you have live music, I couldn’t believe they even had live music at the airport arrivals hall’. Check in Lady looked looked sideways at Rosie and said, ‘Darling, this is Nashville, there ain’t no place in town that don’t have live music’…..Check in Lady was not exaggerating, this place is alive with sound.
Strolling down Broadway in the early evening right on dusk, the neon lights had just turned on turning the strip into a mini Las Vegas.
Cars were crawling up and down Broadway bumper to bumper and the footpaths had been widened onto the road with barriers to cater for the anticipated traffic flow of people. Big things were happening in town tonight, there was an Ice Hockey game on in the town arena, Adele had a concert and a big name country singer had the third stadium…it was gearing up to be a big Saturday night.
What a great vibe to be out and about in, people were everywhere, Rosie doesn’t do that well in crowds, but everyone was in good spirits and still showing their best Southern manners.
You are allowed to drink in the street here, as long as it is not from a glass container…bars sell you ‘drinks to go’ in plastic cups and some bars have a bar that faces directly on to the footpath and you just buy a drink as you pass.
Under the neon lights of the bars and clubs it was like you had a backstage pass to a concert, every bar had front windows that opened and every bar had a stage at the front by the footpath, every band was in full flight and the noise on the street was incredible. Different styles of music blended with another as you walked past bar after bar, looking in you could see the backs of the band playing and Rosie supposes it is like an invitation to come in if you like what you hear.
All bars had a security guy on the door and everyone was asked for ID when you entered any bar…no exceptions. Rosie and The Operator watched a group of silver haired old gals who were at least in their late 70s as they were carded going into a country and western bar. Our NZ drivers licenses were given a second glance as one guy said our DOB details are in an area different to theirs, making them look closer…but they all commented on how far we had traveled to be here, and all said ‘Welcome to Nashville’.
Before we went out we thought we had better line our stomachs. We stopped at Pucketts a place recommended by the Check in Lady. It was heaving, we got seats at the bar and had a meal there instead of waiting for a table. Rosie had their house speciality, the Piggy Mac. BBQd pulled pork topped with mac n cheese which came with a side of onion rings. Pucketts own spicy BBQ sauce was delicious. The Operator had Chicken Fried Chicken and chips…odd name for something you might say, yes it is, they also do Chicken Fried Steak, Chicken Fried Catfish etc….The food is covered in Seasoned Batter and Deep Fried….the batter is like KFC flavour…I suppose because we are not in Kentucky they cant call it KFC….so they call their secret batter recipe ‘Chicken Fried’. OMG it was all so good, ultimate comfort food!
While we are in Tennessee The Operator has moved on from his last regional tipple of Tequila and is now sampling the best the State has to offer in Bourbon Whiskey…he got a Whiskey flight of bourbons and was told he had to sample them neat…they are sippers he was assured and not slammers….while the Operator stoically sipped away Rosie was enjoying here iced Peach Tea with a double hot shot of Peach Schnapps. There was only smiles on Rosies face, no grimaces.
Back on the street music was playing from so many genres, main country pop/rock, but there were blues bars, rockabilly, blue grass….no cover charges, it was free to enter and listen to the music, while the band was playing a member of their entourage would wander around with a bucket for tips. They were pretty good at knowing who had paid and who hadn’t…Alot of the bars had rooftop bars and were multi story.
All of the windows on every story opened and people were hanging out everywhere, especially at the huge Honky Tonk Central, they had three floors and a different band played on each floor.
In between the bars shops stayed open at night, especially the boot and hat stores. The Operator was gutted…The Boot Barn was offering ‘Buy one pair of boots and get Two Free’. Well, the initial pair was super expensive to make up for the free pair and after a look around The Operator said he liked his better anyway.
Rosie and the Operator jumped into a few bars as we toured the strip and had a good old sing along with everyone else, there was no aggro and the mix of old and young was awesome.
We walked right down to the Cumberland River and wandered long the waterfront, the bridges lit up at night and looked lovely reflected in the water, as did the old paddle steamer.
Nashville was jumping, the concerts and hockey game had just finished and a surge of people were pressing up the street and into the already full bars. Lines were forming as people were let in only as people came out.
Time for Rosie and the Operator to call it a night. Tomorrow we are seeing the city sights and visiting the Grand Ole Opry, Rosie is a little nervous about these ticket purchases as we don’t know alot of country music and haven’t heard of anyone in the line up….Rosie questioned the Check in Lady about the Opry singers, her advice was, Darling, you will have a great time, it doesn’t matter if they are not famous, they will be next time you are in town and you will have seen them first’. Love that Lady!
