We continued our Nashville experience with a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House. In the last post I wrote that we attended an Opry show being broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman was the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974 before taking up permanent residence at the Opry House. Currently, though, the show has moved back to the Ryman for the Christmas season while the Opry House is used for a theater production so we were lucky to attend the show in its original home and then do a backstage tour of its current home which still runs during the day.
Music Row is the heart of the Nashville music industry, where recording studios, radio stations and record labels are located. Our Airbnb was located right in the centre of Music Row and our apartment was in the former Spence Manor, the first 5-star hotel in Nashville and temporary residence of stars who came to town for business including Elvis Presley, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson. Though currently closed for winter, we were still tickled to discover the guitar-shaped swimming pool right outside our window.
The rest of our time in the Music City was spent soaking up the talent that can be found in every bar and on every corner you turn. There is no end to the music that is overflowing here and while country music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, even Sammy was caught tapping her feet as she discovered that bluegrass music and honky tonk is actually not so bad 😂 We enjoyed every minute we were in Nashville. My only disappointment: there are not enough cowboy hats being worn here. I expected far more Stetsons and far fewer baseball caps!
A special mention must go to Dean and Bert of Nashville Night Tours. Between Dean’s expert navigation and Bert’s musical talent and knowledge, we learned about the history of Nashville, took in the sights by night and had loads of fun in the process
From Music City to the Home of the Blues: we arrived in Memphis and our first stop was Beale Street. Bright lights greeted us and we spent a great few hours at the original BB King’s Blues Club, eating BBQ ribs and listening to live music.
We also visited the Peabody Hotel to watch the March of the Peabody Ducks. Five North American mallards (one male, four female) live on the hotel rooftop and every day at 11am, led by their Duckmaster, they make the journey from the roof, down the elevator and along the red carpet that is rolled out for them to the lobby fountain where they paddle about until 5pm when they head back to the the elevator to retire to their rooftop suite. It is by far one of the cutest things we have seen on this trip. The ducks, however, in their excitement to run to the fountain, made it hard to get photos without them appearing like brown blurry streaks. Check out this link to see the ducks in action: https://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks.
Our last Tennessee stop: Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. Graceland has become a pilgrimage point for millions of fans of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll each year. The house is beautifully preserved, kept just as it was when Elvis was alive, including his somewhat interesting interior decorating choices as seen in the famous Jungle Room and Pool Room. We really enjoyed our visit to Graceland, more than we anticipated. We expected a great mausoleum of a mansion and instead found a home that was lived in by a rockstar and his family and is surprisingly full of character.
Tennessee you have looked after us well (literally) and we cannot thank you enough. Mississippi, we’re on our way to you! 😊
P&S