Music City...Nashville, Tennessee.

We were getting a little smug........everything has been perfect since we arrived in the US.

So as we were driving into Nashville we were surprised when the GPS was a little bit slower than the traffic on the Interstate, the extra time we took to visit out of the way places had made us just a bit late and the traffic was heavy.
The stress was building up as we drove around and around. Take a deep breathe.....relax!
Finally we reached our destination and looked forward to an inexpensive but comfortable room.
This week is the Country Music Awards in Nashville....nobody told us that!
Hotel rooms had trebled in price, huge crowds had arrived for the biggest week of Nashville's year. Oh well, too bad we are tired and maybe we will enjoy all the excitement. We booked our room for two nights.

Time for dinner, so we walked into the city.......and we walked and walked.
At last we found somewhere to fill our tummies and try a local beer.
This bit was great! We're starting to enjoy this town.

Next day, it's time to plan our entertainment............everywhere we tried was full.
The laundry needed doing but the washing machines were full too.
Surely something was available, we checked all the tour apps on the ipad, rang tour operators, everything we could think of.
Even the free tourist trolley bus was cancelled for the week.
Finally a booking was made and we headed off to The Grand Ole Opry.

I heard about Cousin Minnie Pearl for the second time in two days, who is she? The first time was in a facebook comment when someone left a price tag on her hoodie.........now I see she has a dressing room at the Grand Ole Opry.

And the gift shop is selling her face!

We found a factory outlet centre just nearby so we filled in the end of the day, window shopping, hmmmm, Nashville is alright might book in for another night?
Uh uh! The price for our 3rd night is now six times the listed price! Way too much for a Best Western motel, that's for sure. So we decide to check out in the morning but leave the car in the carpark for the day.
A walk into town and the most fabulous day spent amongst the crowds at the Country Music Hall of Fame, tour of the RCA Studio and a delicious lunch.

And we saw this bloke..........the papparazzi were flocking around, crowds were swarming and cameras were flashing. I have no idea who he is but I'm sure he must be somebody famous!

I now know a lot more about country music.
Fell in love with Minnie Pearl after a few minutes on Youtube.
Saw people dancing in the streets.
And was very tempted to buy a pair of cowboy boots!

Well goodbye Nashville, you were hard to get to know and due to the traffic jam this afternoon, hard to get away from but we love you anyway.