The Glebe in the USA 2013 - Nashville - Part 2

It's my second full day in Nashville and today I'm heading for Music Valley and Opryland.

After my car trips yesterday I'm now fully confident of my driving. It's a pleasure compared to the mad rush on Britain's roads. So it's up the Gallatin Pike and down the Briley Parkway where I find Music Valley. I'll have a wander around here before movin' on. 

Fiddler's Inn

Cooters

Remember the Dukes of Hazzard ?

I'm not sure if that's the original General Lee though, the website says 'a General Lee'.

The Nashville Palace

Now under the ownership of Jesse Lee Jones owner/operator of Robert’s Western World honky tonk in downtown Nashville

Willie's Store

I spent some time and dollars in here. Never saw the great man, I think he was "On the road again", but I did talk to one of his musicians.

Caney Fork

I was almost tempted by their Cajun Gator Sliders 

Interesting characters on the roof.

I'm now moving on to Opryland where my first stop is the unbelievably extra large Marriot hotel, the
Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center

 I walked round much of the outside, it's really a car drive !

 The front entrance

Reminds me of the staircase in Tara in 'Gone with the Wind'

Completed in four phases over a twenty-year period, this is the largest non-gambling hotel and convention complex in the USA.

 I was able to get lots of pictures without people in them, but they were about.

 Everything about the place reeks of quality, at roughly £100 a night it's probably great value. Actually you can get a better deal. I just checked, one room for a couple for seven nights in February 2014 for £1133.

 This particular carpet wont have been affected, but the hotel was closed back in May 2010. It sits along the Cumberland River, which broke its banks, flooding the city and causing more than a billion dollars of damage. Like Newton Stewart's once every fifty years flood this was so severe it's forecast to happen only once every thousand years. At the time, the hotel was closed indefinitely.

Here's a symmetrical collage. A corner mural, shopping and nightlife area, the complex's own radio station and the chefs. Spot the 'visitor'.

The Atriums and Gardens of Opryland encompass nine lush acres of indoor gardens separated into three areas known as the Cascades, the Delta and the Garden Conservatory.

 The complex has it's own river where you can take a flat boat cruise through the complex. If you fancy it you can dine with Shrek !

It has an amazing interior eco-system. Lot's of colour,water and waterfalls, plants and trees.
 

And you can book a room overlooking the gardens.

These are the arrival and departure desks.

As I wandered around I talked to quite a few members of staff and all were very helpful in answering my questions. However, I've been looking at comments on TripAdvisor and it seems not all is well with it's service. People are certainly impressed with the layout, but overbooking, overcharging, poor service and conventions ruin it for many. I guess I won't be booking until I'm a part owner then !

I'm moving along to the Grand Ole Opry itself now.

The Grand Ole Opry started as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth-floor radio studio of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville on November 28, 1925.

On December 10, 1927 it became the 'Grand Ole Opry'. After moving around various venues it found a permanent home in 1943 at the Ryman Auditorium.

 In 1974 it moved to this site I'm at now, but only the gift shop will be open, the Opry moves back to the Ryman, November to February.

A young lady from Boston Massachusetts took my picture in return for me taking hers.

It's a shame I couldn't look in, but I'll make up for that later in the week at the Ryman Auditorium.

I also spent a few more dollars in the gift shop.

From the gift shop I headed over for a look in Dave and Busters, a very large complex of Restaurants, Bars, Arcades, Bowling and Pool. I didn't stay long. 

I moved on to the Opry Mills Mall, there's a few pictures from there on my earlier 'in situ' posts.

To complete my visit to this part of Nashville, I had some Chinese Cajun chicken in the food court.

It's been an entertaining day so far. I'm off to the graveyard next, or to be more accurate I'll be visiting the Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home & Memorial Park

See y'all agin soon!

Wigtownshire Ramblers - Lochnaw - December 2013

Saturday 14th of December

Thanks to Scoop for her contribution of  photographs.

Walk report to follow the pictures.

The scene at Portpatrick. Neither my camera or Scoops could do justice to the fierceness of the waves.

Anyhow, our leader had an alternative short walk for us. We'd have been blown off the cliffs if we'd done the original scheduled walk. One of our club members had already been blown off all fours and she decided to call it a day before we moved on.

We drove out towards Leswalt and parked up at Glenvallagh, the home of today's leader.

We'll be heading into the Lochnaw estate. This is a popular area which we like to come back to.

February 2013 Walk 

'Why is there no one riding us today ?'

Only nine of us today. For the weather conditions that's a fair crowd.

Lochnaw Castle

Every time we come here the owners have completed more restoration work.

Would this fella be known as a cherub ? On the right is one of the Kinsale Hounds, going back to a time when there were still wolves in Ireland. The hounds were bred to hunt the wolves.

Our happy group................

....................and again..........

Watch what happens when the above two pictures are speeded up together.

Pointing Gif

Now which member of today's group could this be ?

I think John (Two Sticks) would have given a better impression.

View from the loch side

There's some sort of symmetry about this picture Scoop, almost a composition !

Would it win a prize though ?

It's not alive, honest !

A look at the walled garden before making our way back to the start.

An enjoyable walk in amiable company with tasty fare at Soleburn to finish.

Wigtownshire Ramblers Saturday 14th of December

With a worsening weather forecast, gale force winds and large waves crashing on to the rocks, the walkers gathered at Portpatrick were offered a safer shorter alternative to the planned clifftop walk by today's leader.
After relocating to a new walk start at Glenvallagh on the Leswalt road, nine intrepid walkers set out.
A short road walk brought the group to the entrance to Lochnaw Home Farm. A mixed group of ponies took an interest in our passing, the usually busy riding stables were deserted.
The weather remained blustery but not unduly wet as we reached Lochnaw Castle and admired the architecture. Our walk leader offered some of it's history and how it had been saved from being ruined.
After admiring the Kinsale Hounds, a magnificent pair of stone great danes, we made our way to the loch side where a short lunch break was taken. Swans and geese on the loch seemed unperturbed by the conditions.
After lunch a short walk led to the walled garden containing one of the finest collection of fruit trees in the UK. Some of the trees, viewed through the gates, still had fruit hanging from their branches.
Wood carvings seen today included the snake from the Jungle Book and a grumpy old man.
To complete the circular walk we emerged from the estate at Kathleen Cottage and made our way back to the vehicles.
Tea, coffee, scones and cake at the Soleburn Cafe concluded a blustery but enjoyable walk.

Next week the group will make their way up to the Dark Sky Observatory at Craigengillan for a guided tour of Craigengillan House and gardens, a walk up Ness Glen and a presentation at the observatory.This will be followed by a Christmas Dinner at the Clachan Inn at St Johns Town of Dalry. Meet for car sharing at the Breastworks car park in Stranraer at 10.30 am, the Riverside car park in Newton Stewart at 11.00 am,  or the observatory at Craigengillan NS 473 023.
As this is a pre-booked occasion, anyone wishing to join the day out must first contact the walk leader on 01671 403351

The Glebe in the USA 2013 - Nashville - Part 1

N.B.I already uploaded quite a lot of pictures from my tablets. For anyone interested who never saw these posts these are the links.

Nashville 1

Nashville 2

Nashville 3

Florida 1

Florida 2

Memphis

I literally took hundreds, but I'll limit the pictures on these posts. Shame I managed to delete the photos I took on the plane over.

25th of November 2013

The day had arrived for me to take off on a trip I'd long dreamed of doing. I jumped into my car in the middle of the night, drove down to Manchester Airport and booked in for my flight. I was quite relaxed.
I'd have one change to make at Dulles Airport Washington. My company on the flight were a friendly couple from the Potteries visiting their son in Washington.
The United Airways 8 hour + flight seemed to go quite quickly and we were soon disembarking at Dulles.
I thought security and customs might have eased since my L.A palaver ten years ago...........not a chance, the two hours till my connection was taken up in security and customs queues. Luckily my flight on to Nashville was delayed by fifteen minutes otherwise I'd have missed it. (Leaving the U.S.A was much easier)
After disembarking at Nashville, I picked up my hire car at just after 6 pm Central Time Zone, making it midnight in the U.K. which meant I'd left home 21 hours ago.

My hire car, a Toyoto Corolla with a Florida plate

After re-familiarizing myself with an automatic and the other side of the road, I was soon travelling up the Briley Parkway and down Gallatin Pike looking for my Airbnb accommodation.
After a few wrong streets and finally remembering that American streets are usually ten times the size of UK streets I arrived.

My Nashville digs, in the very roomy basement.

(I used Airbnb in Memphis also, the freedom to come and go as you please is priceless.)

After dropping my luggage off, I was out again at the nearest Walmart Superstore to buy food and a cheap cellphone for the time I was in America. Trust me to buy the faulty one, however on return to the store in the morning the lovely LaCresha was very helpful in setting up the replacement. Thank you girl!

I'd had a good night's sleep and my first outing was down to the city. Being a stranger I asked a policeman about parking and he sent me to the Sheraton where my parking ticket ended up costing me 18 dollars. I would soon learn of an all day car park for 5 dollars, I think the cop must have been on commission. 

Hunger and Homelessness in America

This is the first picture I took downtown Nashville, he was still on the same bench on Friday. America has a big community of homeless people.
Now I headed downhill with my street map. I went looking for Broadway.

The Baptist Sunday School Board also known as the Frost Building.

Built in 1914, the historic Frost Building served as the first permanent home of the Baptist Sunday School Board and named after James Marion Frost 

In the city this is classed as a low level structure, it wouldn't be in that category in Newton Stewart !
I continued on down to reach the Bridgestone Arena halfway up Broadway.

Bridgestone Arena 

Home to the Nashville Predators and some great shows by the looks of it !

It's attached to the glass tower of the Nashville Music City Visitors Center. 

A Queue

I heard a great scream of excitement as this lot spotted the lead singer of the group they were queuing up to get tickets for.

Inquiring of a young gentleman he proudly stuck out his tee shirt proclaiming Paramore.

I'd vaguely heard the name before, but it seems they are well known. I see their Youtube video of Still into you  has had almost 42 million hits. I obviously am not up with the current round of popsters.

Legends Corner

The music, restaurants and bars begin here on Nashville's Broadway at Legends Corner. 

It's almost impossible in downtown Nashville not to hear music coming out of any doorway. Down by the Country Music Hall of Fame (which will be a separate post) there are even large speakers built into the sidewalk.(or is that pavement?)

I was to return to Broadway a few times to enjoy the food and music. 

 A Canadian from Ottowa took this picture for me.

Were I to go into all the clubs and bars I'd need a very long vacation.

Here's a taster of the free music on offer

Sorry about the video quality. 

If you guys from Indiana and California remember it's the 'Glebe Blog' then 'Hi'.

I took the occasional 'selfie' on my Kindle tablet.

Billboards and advertisements are all over the place.

Here's a sly old fox !

Hard Rock Cafe

Almost enough of the music for now, I also took in more of the history and buildings of the city. One of my problems though was arriving at Thanksgiving. Here I'm in part of what's known as the 'Bible Belt' of America and religion is a very serious matter. That being the case, many of the museums and libraries were either closed or on short hours for a few days.

 Here are just a few non music pictures. 

 These information are scattered about both Nashville and Memphis.
As well as the heartland of the civil rights movement, Tennessee played a major role in the civil war.

 The Tennessee Supreme Court Building.

 YMCA

Bottom left Korea, bottom right Vietnam.
Above is only a smidgen of the war memorials in the city.

 Now here's a name that takes me back to Saturday morning matinees at the Regal and La Scala in Cupar

 Lots of high rise buildings

This is quite a controversial plaque. Apparently he was an out and out racist and there's been continued efforts to have his statue removed from the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol.

Edward Ward Carmack (November 5, 1858 – November 9, 1908) was an attorney, newspaperman, and political figure who served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1901 to 1907.

Following his political service, and after an unsuccessful run for Governor of Tennessee, he became editor of the one year old Nashville Tennessean. He was shot to death on November 9, 1908 over a feud precipitated by his editorial comments in the paper. 

 All I could do was walk around the State Capitol Building, it too was closed.

At first glance I thought this massive statue might have been Billy Graham, it certainly looked like the evangelist I remember visiting the U.K on different occasions. Hey presto, I was right.

The cross is seventeen feet tall. Not liked by all Tennesseans apparently.  

 Here's a historic building. It's the Custom House.
1877 - The cornerstone of this building is laid by President Hayes.
1882 – The clock tower is completed.
1903 – The rear portion of the building is completed.
1916 – The wings of the building are completed.
1972 – The building is added to the National Register of Historic Places.
1979 – Ownership is transferred from the federal government to the local government.

 Nashville's War Memorial.
It's Auditorium is nowadays a venue for top music acts because of it's near perfect acoustics.


At this point I should be saying 'Back to the music' !

This picture is three stitched together, and even then I couldn't get it all in. You'd have to be a couple of streets away, and then of course you wouldn't see it. It's Nashville's Music City Center. It sits next to the Bridgestone Arena and we've seen how big that is.

I've borrowed the next aerial picture from Greenroofs and Aerial Innovations to show it's size.

Earlier I mentioned 'Thanksgiving'..............................

Music City Center was closed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here endeth part one.

It'll be Opryland next.