Thursday 26 July – 9658 steps, 30.5km cycle
Song: Brand new key by Melanie
We went on awesome cycle through the green belt that David had discovered. We had to go through some traffic at first and that wasn’t great. We were hooted at, a first in USA and David was furious!
Then luckily, the rest of the way is on awesome bike paths through woods and past golf courses and a school where the marching band was out practicing even though it is still school holidays. Just outside Nashville, we saw a deer in the woods. There is a pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland river, which was being adorned with shrubbery. Apparently it was for a music video for Blue Man Group. We stopped short of the city and cycled back along the same path. About 30 kms in 2 hours! – I love my new bike.
We then Ubered into town to do some market research. On Thursdays, Nashville closes a block downtown to traffic to allow for food trucks to operate there. We went to see if there were any ideas we could pass on to our sons for their new business at home, the Good Food Truck.
There was very little shade and less place to sit so we decided to get back on the famous hop on hop off trolley – we had a 2 day pass – and went off to a popular mall in the old Marathon car manufacturing builldings. The whole place is decorated with old machinery and tools from the factory. It appealed to me and reminded me of the many happy hours I spent as a child in both my oupa’s and my father’s workshops. We found a deli that made amazing sandwiches. We also did some moonshine and whiskey tasting there.
We still had tickets for Country Hall of Fame, so hopped on the next trolley. The tour guide on this one was a true delight. A 4thgrade teacher, earning extra money, she was informative and funny. The same circuit we had done in the hot blue van, was far more enjoyable. We saw Nashvilles’s Parthenon and Taylor Swift’s Ferrari parked outside her recording studio, other more familiar recording studios and some of Nashvilles murals.
We got to the Hall of fame at 4:30 and they closed at 5, so we did a brief look and decided it was so interesting we would have to return in the morning. Luckily our tickets were valid for 2 days.
We walked to a trendy area called The Gulch, where we had drinks and supper, while listening to jazz, at a bar/restaurant called Sambuca. I am going to miss these restaurants when I get home. I know this is not a food blog, but I have to mention, I had blackened fish with shrimp etoufee for dinner. Now I can tick off Cajun food. David had ribeye as usual. Both were excellent.
David’s observation of the day:As we were waiting for an Uber to take us home, there was a younger crowd, (young money) mingling. David observed that this was the first area in America where he had only seen thin people.
What I learnt: Nashville has a subsidized housing programme, where people can stay if and only if they have a job. If they lose their job, they have 3 months to find another, otherwise they lose their house. Jobs are plentiful, even if it is something you don’t really want to do, you keep working too stay in the house.
Kim's journey 