The sun is out (finally) as I write this, but it has been pretty overcast all day. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something about turning 50.
We started the day today by driving over to the Vanderbilt University area to get breakfast and to see the Parthenon, (More about that in a minute.) We ate in a neat space called “Biscuit Love.” Meh. It was okay, but I was reminded—again—that I’m not a huge fan of southern-style biscuits. Too much baking soda or something. The place was quite nice, however, and the staff were as friendly as can be.
Nashville doesn’t seem to be noted for its art scene (there are exactly three galleries on what they refer to as “art avenue”), but there were two galleries near Vanderbilt, so we stopped in. They were nice but not particularly what I was looking for. I will concede, though, that the Leu Art Gallery’s exibit of Cop Shiva’s Being Ghandi series was really quite interesting. In his series, Shiva documents performances of Bagadehalli Basavaraj, who impersonates Ghandi as a way to make the pacifist revolutionary more present for generations now far removed from his life. (It’s more complicated than that, but hey, this is a blog, not an encyclopedia.) The sec0nd gallery, Gallery 121, was pretty tiny and was showing what I think was the art of a student or faculty member at Belmont Univerity. It wasn’t bad art, but it was repetitive.
After that mildly disappointing experience, we trekked over to the full-scale of the Parthenon that was built in Nashville in the late nineteenth century (and then rebuild in the 1920s) as part of the Tennessee Centennial celebration. It was interesting as an artifact, and I thought the art collection housed on the first level was engaging. I wish it had been built with something other than large-aggregate concrete and that the monumental statue of Athena inside didn’t look like a cheap doll (goodness, I’m crabby today!), but I‘m glad to have seen it.
Maybe some day I’ll get the chance to compare it to the ruins of the original.
On the advice of a friend (you know who you are, Chris), we drove up to see the Opryland Hotel and immediate turned around when we saw that parking costs $29. I guess it’s a tourist attraction, so $15 each for “tickets” wasn’t awful, but it was more than we were willing to spend for “parking.” That’s okay, though, because we went on to the next attraction on our list, and I’m really happy to have seen it.
I knew the Ryman Auditorium only as the former home of the Grand Old Opry, but I learned that it is—and always has been—so much more. Sure, it’s “The Mother Church of Country Music,” but it hosts a wide range of musical acts and other entertainments. Tonight, Daughtry was playing the Ryman—pretty far from country. It also acts as a museum of its history with some very interesting video and artifact installations throughout the building. Stupidly, I didn’t take any exterior photos, but I did take some inside the auditorium.
We wandered around downtown for a while after our tour and then settled on Frothy Monkey for dinner. Laid-back, easy, good food. We both skipped dessert, though. Portions were generous, and frankly, so were our breakfasts. It was only six local time (seven in Columbus), but after about nine hours out and about, we decided to call it a day and head back to the condo. We’ve been watching HGTV for the last two hours. I know, I know. Mark is old—and I’m about to be—and we’re tired.
On to Memphis tomorrow.