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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Viva Nash Vegas

You know you're in Tennessee when....you see a giant guitar on the side of the highway.


We've arrived in the Country Music Capital of the WORLD!!!! They play country music from speakers hidden inside garbage cans on the street corners here!!! I've never seen anything like it in my short, short life. But it is a city of contrasts, too. Old and new. Sticky and sweet. Kitschy and verbose. But I digress.

We arrived through the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee (home of Dollywood...) and were able to witness this beautiful sunset.


And before I forget, here are a couple parting shots for Virginia. (Traffic and trailers.)



Anyway, in our wanderings today, here are some of the sights:

Broadway where all the musicians get their start...the old record store....


...I think that's Elvis...


...the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge...



...Hooooooooooooow-DEE!!!...



...the historic Ryman Auditorium getting a new roof...


Nashville also thinks of itself as the Athens of the South (coming from Massachusetts, I might even say the BOSTON of the South).   It is a center of learning and medicine--and they take the appellation very seriously. Virtually all of the city's public monuments reference a Classical heritage. The biped (being who he is) referred to it as post-modern neo-classicism. Or neo-classical post-modernism. But not neo-modern post-classicism.

The public library...


...the majestic State House (from the 1850's)...


...the Legislative Offices...



...a church...



...the new Symphony Hall (literally one year old, maybe two)...



...here's the biped-Mom outside the Symphony Hall...


And, of course, a full-size replica of the Parthenon (inside and out)...


And let's not forget that it's Mardi Gras. To celebrate, the biped and the biped mother went to this place for lunch.


It is, as the biped says, the "real deal". In the South, the crummier the restaurant, the better the food. Here's the gold Lincoln Town Car to prove it.


And the biped got to spend time with the biped-Mom and his cousin, Jessica, and her son, Hayden.


There were an insane number of dogs, too. I got so worked up I had to go to the emergency room!! This is Hazel, she's a trip.


This is Titan, he's very pretty. And he's playing with cousin Hayden.


Here's Hazel in a pink tutu!


Bye bye! Tomorrow we're off to Alabama!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

love the bald head.. u remind me of another ptown couple... u and hazel remind me of me and rob costa... from ptown... sincerely, gus costa/papa

Clovis said...

Hey Gus! Do you like the biped's non-fro? He has become pretty religious about shaving it. How's your Dads? That Hazel, you should meet her--you two would get along great! She's a real lover...

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Provincetown, Massachusetts, United States
I am a California native transplanted to the East Coast and have grown to accept both the snowy weather of winter and the hard-bitten attitudes of New Englanders. Since I moved here in October of 2006, I think I've become something of a native, although the locals will always call me a "bark-ashore". If you have any questions, just ask!