Nashville Aug. 07

I was in Nashville for business. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Resort , a huge complex of hotels, gardens, even a "river" all under a one roof. I wish I'd had more non-work time to explore the resort but I did get to eat at a couple of restaurants there:

-Avoid "Stax" the fast food hamburger place. Yuck.

-The Water's Edge Marketplace is a gourmet buffet for all meals. $18 for breakfast but well worth it.

-Cascades is also good. Expensive but good.

-The Irish pub also has decent food, but distictly Americanization of traditional Irish fare. Also on the high price side of things. But I went for the live music.

Also, unless you've got money to burn, avoid room service. They tack on a delivery fee and a huge gratuity.

I snuck away for a few hours to go on the Gray Line Tours  "Discover Nashville" tour. I wish we'd had time to stop at some of the sites (like the Parthenon  and the State Capitol  building) but it was a pretty good tour. On this tour you stop at the Ryman Auditorium  (known as the traditional site of the Grand Old Opry, and still a venue for acts of all musical types). The acoustics at this place are amazing.

We also had an hour at the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum . Now, I am no big country music fan, but it was a great place nontheless. They have wonderful exhibits and the special exhibit on Ray Charles and country music was excellent.

At the end of the tour they take you to a historic "honky tonk" called Legends Corner .