Canadian's are universally known for their polite and friendly disposition but I must say, the folks of Nashville certainly give them a run for their money. I now understand the true meaning of 'southern hospitality'- and a girl could get used to that.
Unfortunately, events leading up to our arrival in Nashville were not the smoothest. On our last night in New Orleans, Cassie was pick-pocketed and left without a phone and a camera, arriving home in the early hours of the morning understandably upset by it. The pick-pocketers of New Orleans are a talented bunch - they can unzip your handbag while it is still strapped to your body, and remove items in the blink of an eye all without you noticing a thing out of the ordinary. At around 3 am already, and the alarm set for 5:45 am for our early morning flight, we didn't get much sleep at all that night.
After closing my eyes for what seemed like a minute, the alarm on my phone went off at '5:45 am'. As it turns out, it was actually 6:45 am in real New Orleans time as my phone had failed to automatically update the time zone. Being on holiday and with rarely the need to know the time, I had failed to notice this important fact.
With less than 30 minutes to get to the airport to check in, we sprang out of bed, dressed in ninja speed, and with superhuman strength lugged our 23 kg suitcases down the many, many stairs in record speed. Continuing on with record breaking, our taxi driver got us to the airport in 12 minutes, a personal best for him and thankfully, we did not miss our flight.
We arrived in Nashville, exhausted and sleep-deprived. After breakfast at the highly recommended Puckett's, the lovely woman at the hotel let us check in hours before we were supposed to and we could finally lay ourselves down to rest.
Feeling better later in the day, we went our for Italian and a stroll along Broadway - the epicentre of downtown Nashville. Although not a large strip, there is plenty of entertainment on offer. Blocks and blocks of live country music venues so that should you wander in and find something not to your liking, you can simply go next door. Or the one next to that. And so on.
My first night in Nashville was the type of great night you can only have when it is random. I found a rooftop with a band singing all the favourite rock and country covers and sat myself down for a couple of beers.
Within the hour, I had met a couple who welcomed me with open arms and proceeded to buy all my beers and fireball shots for the remainder of the night, simply because I was Australian and travelling. Fireball shots, also known as cinnamon whiskey are a force to be reckoned with. After setting your throat on fire, they then later creep up on you as most shots tend to do.
We danced, we sang along, we tapped our feet and waved our arms, and we drank. Later, I held back her hair in the cubicle until she was asked to leave by security.
On our second day, we put on our tourist hats and with camera in hand, we visited the Rymin Auditorium (which is the original Grand Ole Opry), the Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame, and the Walk of Fame. Granted, country music is not my go-to choice of tune but nonetheless, it was all still very impressive - particularly Elvis Presley's solid gold piano and Cadillac.
You cannot go to Nashville and not have a typical Southern dinner - ribs and beer. There was far more animal on my plate than necessary but as they say, 'When in Rome...'
We saw band after band, heard song after song, wandered from place to place and even found ourselves at Coyote Ugly where yes, I did dance on the bar. Thankfully, I did not have ice water poured down my underwear and the band of them cut and then ripped off like one patron (Phew!).
We went to the Listening Cafe and were almost brought to tears by some very talented young songwriters and performers, and followed that up with a brief line dancing lesson with the majority of the US's under 18 year old population (very strange!).
Our three nights and four days in one of the most fun and friendliest cities I have been came to an end and I begrudgingly said goodbye to Nashville, Tennessee. It is important to learn something new every day, or so they say so here's what I learned:
1. 'First you "HOLLER", then you SWALL-A"', the Nashville way of raising your glass and saying Cheers (I know it sounds a little dirty but it's really not!)
2. The chorus of 'Rock Me Mama', my new favourite country song,
3. Being pushed down the hotel corridor on the luggage trolley is almost as fun and driving a golf cart, and
3. There is something very attractive about a man in denim, cowboy boots and hat, and with a southern drawl...
I will miss you Nashville but fear not, I have a feeling that I'll be back y'all!
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