6th Day Nashville

This is actually the first day of our tour. We met our guide, Allie ( female) this morning at breakfast and left on the coach at 10o'clock for our city tour. This took us all around the inner city highlighting the history of the area and state (Americans are so very passionate about their history) which, while interesting, became a bit monotonous after a while. However, I believe there is a lot more to come!We drove down Music Row where RCA Studios are along with lots of other studios and houses etc owned by the stars. In Centennial Park we saw the only full scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece. It sure looked authentic.Then it was to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum where we wandered around reading about the stars and their history. We saw Elvis gold plated Cadillac and gold Piano and a section on Keith Urban, who is a really a BIG name here. The only Kiwis in our group said he was born in NZ!!!!!!!! So there you go. After lunch we drove to the new Grand Ole Opry which is about 30years old. Well, it sure is't anything to look at either from the outside or inside. To me it resembled one of those brick incinerators or a huge barn. It is completely unadorned - just brick (lots of bricks) with timber trim. However. I guess it is really meant as a working studio and they still have live broadcasts three nights a week and have done so since 1925. Our guide was the highlight of the tour as she was so enthusiastic and animated and kept us interested. Tonight we eat at the famous ? Saleyard Steak House. This was a very interesting building which served as a meeting place and a place to make sales and settle accounts years ago. It had fallen into disrepair until someone (with lots of money) restored it converting most of it into a restaurant with lots of large and small intimate rooms immaculately furnished with gorgeous furniture and lots of intricate chandeliers, large and small. I would have loved to have been able to tour through the building at leisure. Back to our hotel by 10pm. We thought we may do a wander down to Broadway to listen to the live music but decoded we had better do our packing as our bags have to be ready by 8am.