Nashville At Night

Nashville Side Street

It looks like a cloudy day but we hope to be able to spend most of it outside, walking, seeing the various sights.  I was up at 7:00, went down to the lounge, got a coffee and sat around looking out at Broadway, lots of tall buildings, traffic and a cloudy sky.  Today will be in the 60's with the possiblity of rain, mostly in the morning.  Looks like Hattie's hot chicken for lunch, perhaps Jack's Barbecue for dinner.  Yum.

We left Euclid just as we hoped, about 8:00 and were lucky for MOST of the way.  The skies were blue, lots of sun all the way.  It seemed like a long ride; perhaps we just aren't used to eight hours in the car.  We usually drove for two hours, then stopped, traded places, so we shared the drive. Everything went well until we got within five miles of the Aloft Hotel.  Two things stood between us and our hotel.  First, they close down the major highway through the city on weekends so that they can work on it.  We did not know this.  Secondly, we arrived just as the NFL game was finished, thus a traffic jam to go with the closed freeway.  We asked a cop how we could get over to our hotel and he threw his hands in the air and said he had no idea.  Every route seemed to be closed.

Boutique- E

So off we went, having no idea how to get across the river to the other side. Traffic was horrendous, backed up everywhere because of the football game.  We stopped at a gas station and asked a guy filling a gas can and he told us a back way.  We tried it, got stuck or went the wrong way a couple of times but eventually made it to our hotel, thanks to the GPS.  We felt lucky to get to our hotel to be honest even though it took us an extra forty five minutes.  Our hotel, the ALOFT, is semi boutique, small lounge, with music at night, and enough room for a pool table, couches, and a small eating area for breakfast.  The staff is amazingly friendly and helpful, so it was a good choice.  Fortunately, we gained an hour, so we decided to relax, shower, take our time before heading off to the Music Row district, about a mile walk from our hotel.  It's where the good restaurants, bars and music halls are located.

Frist Museum Of Visual Arts

We are a little over a mile from the main drag,  so we decided to walk, past a couple of car dealers and gas stations, until we got downtown, then the historic Union Station, now a hotel, a turreted, stone library, the Custom House, all stone, restored, and no doubt expensive to keep up.  We walked to Honky Tonk Central, checking out all the country bars, music blasting from inside and decided to see if we could get a seat at a recommended restaurant, Merchants, since Jack's Barbecue closed at 6:00 on Sundays.

Robert's Western World

Robert's Again

We waited and waited, with no luck getting a seat at the bar so we left to our next recommended attraction, Robert's Western World.  And we got lucky, finding two seats at the end the bar, close enough to the music to enjoy but still talk.  It's a long narrow room, a bar that seats 20 or 30 people, with lots of tables along the side and there's an upstairs.  After a long neck Bud, no draft beers here, I treated Evie to their special, a baloney sandwich and a bag of chips (with fries) for five bucks.  The white bread was soft and spongy, like it used to be, the baloney, three or four slices fired to perfection.  With a slag of mayonnaise, Evie was in heaven, fries and a fried baloney sandwich, a favorite from her school days.  We ended up talking with various guys, one from Grand Rapids, who comes with his wife a couple of times a year.  He recommended a couple of must see places.  We also talked briefly with a couple of guys dressed in white shirts and cowboy hats, and Evie took their picture.  There were a few couples who would get up and dance country western.  For the bars we went to, admission was free but the band would pass around a jar, which is how they made some money.  Interesting.  One of the singers sounded just like Johnny Cash and, of course, sang a couple of his songs.

A Couple of Cowboys At The Bar

We hit the next place, the Stage Saloon, where most of the clientele just stood and listened to the band, some danced, one a gal with a drink on her head.  When we left, we ran into a couple who were from Ireland.  He was a riot, insisted we come with his group to a pub.  He had just gotten married in Vegas, were now in Nashville.  We walked with them, talked, took they picture but moved on, to their dismay.  He was really fun, should have gone into the pub with them.

Newly Married Couple From Belfast, Ireland

We stopped at a less well attended bar, the Bootlegger's Saloon, also a long narrow space, the trio, sitting in the window looked interesting.  And they sang all sorts of favorites, audience's choice, and the female belted out various Fleetwood Mac songs, like Stevie Nicks, the guys sang lots of Neil Young tunes.

At Bootleggers

We left for home about 9:30, took the half hour walk home through empty streets to our hotel.  We were both tired from our drive, so we watched some TV, read and went to bed by 11:00, a long day.