Today we did two touristy things (1): we went to the Gulch, and we went to the Parthanon.

The Gulch is your typical trendy redevelopment zone. Once the site of Nashville’s train yards, it was mostly vacant for the second half of the twentieth century. About 10 years ago, much of the land was bought by a developer and it is now a “hip and trendy neighborhood”. There are high-rise condos, boutique stores, and restaurants. we walked around for an hour or so, and I had lunch (2).

Look, I’m a butterfly, September 2018

At a couple of spots we saw people queuing for something,. One was a bakery. The other was a mural where people, wait in a (long) line to take their picture in front of. It’s even featured on the cover of one of the promotional books in our hotel room, featuring a current country music (3) star.

Women’s power, September 2018

From there we ubered over to the Parthanon in Centential Park. Not the actual Parthanon, as that’s in Athens. We saw what’s left of that one when we were there. This full sized replica was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centenial Exhibition. Inside is a massive statue of Athena, which is alleged to be a reconstruction of the statue which stood in the original Parthanon. This is mere speculation (4) of course, as the statue in Athens was destroyed millennia ago.

Also nearby is a monument to the suffragette movement, as Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, giving woman the right to vote in 1920.

Justine Blazer poses for the camera, September 2018

After we returned to the room, I went for my daily fix of music on Broadway. Damned if I didn’t hear yet another rendition of (wait for it …) Don’t Stop Believing. Enough already!

We had dinner in the Capital Grill in the hotel. To my surprise, it is called that because we are located right by the state capital, and not because it is part of the world-class Capital Grill chain. It is also not as good as any restaurant in that chain. But it was okay, and I had a single barrel Jack Daniels after dinner. That was quite good.

It turned out to be a good decision to hit the bars on Broadway earlier, as a steady rain developed by dinnertime. So my Tennessee music experience is over, at least for now.

(1) As if everything else we’ve done on this trip wasn’t “touristy”.

(2) Sally wasn’t hungry.

(3) She’s wearing cowboy boots, a cowboy hat and holding a guitar. I assume that makes her a country artist. The book doesn’t specify.

(4) Slightly more than speculation, perhaps. There are contemporary descriptions of the original, as well as likenesses on coins and elsewhere to use as guides.