Great, I finally got my country music fan to do the Nashville thing so here is the main part of our visit while the Cheekwood Botanical garden and the Nashville Zoo are on separate pages.
The tropical paradise is the Gaylord Opryland Hotel Lobby and one of the opulent hallways that stayed above the water. Due to the massive May 2010 Flood the Grand Ole Opry was not actually open for shows for another month and the hotel was basically deserted. And as budget travelers we are not staying here. Two weeks in the cheap sleep near downtown would not cover three days here. Our motel near downtown had also been flooded almost to the first floor ceiling and we probably got a good rate because tourism had not yet recovered.
They did have the Opry cleaned up well enough for us to take the backstage tour including our picture on the stage. Due to the flood damage just getting out here was an adventure. We discovered Nashville has a wonderful transit system with very reasonable senior rates but it could only drop us off in front of the closed Opry Mills Mall which had been inundated with over ten feet of water and would remain closed for almost two years, require about $200 million in repairs, and put 3,000 people out of work here alone. Where these photographs were taken was also under water including the stage and even the stage piano. At this point it was almost fully restored although water damage was still visible in several areas.
In Nashville proper the flood damage had either been cleaned up or areas were above the water. Near the Cumberland River like where our motel was located there were still some pockets that needed work.
Come rain, snow, flood, or dark of night the show must go on. We enjoyed wandering the streets of Nashville very much but the night life focuses on the bars filled with smoke that I can no longer tolerate, drunks I don't need to humor, and the basic theory seems to be even or especially if you can't play well turn the volume up and no one will notice. We enjoy the music but the concert scene rarely works out as I'll detail at Knoxville.
The Ryman Auditorium was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry until they moved into their new building in 1974 but due to the flood they were back performing here until the damage could be repaired.
Downtown Nashville is just one fascinating view after another so I tried to be real selective to only include these few. The Country Music Hall of Fame was a little pricey and I did not care so I looked for interesting views like this string of news boxes while Lori did the museum. A lot of places had these sculptures on wheels to be moved out when they were open and protected inside when they closed. The green thing is cute but what is it?
Moving out of the entertainment district is a view of the Tennessee State Capitol Building, an old steam pumper at the Tennessee State Museum, and the full scale replica of the Parthenon at Centennial Park which is an art museum in addition to the one at the Cheekwood Botanical garden a little west of the city.
Finally here are a couple views of the Cumberland River NOT at flood level. The Nashville skyline shot from the bridge a short walk from our motel broke my good DSLR camera the day before I was to take the Nashville Zoo photography seminar. This put quite a damper on the trip but I was able to fall back on the smaller point and shoot I used for the Great Train Adventure so all was not lost.