Thank you Sophia and Yuki!

I had to post a big thank you to Sophia and Yuki for hosting us during our visit to Nashville. We all had an incredible time, and we’ve found another city we will need to visit again.

First a little bit about the city. Prior to this trip Nashville is a city that I really didn’t think anything of other than the place where they make all the country music, and it is that, but a lot more. With our two days we spent our first day touring a bit of the city with our guide/pro-photographer Sophia. Sophia took us around the city for some family photos starting at the Ellington Agricultural Center then on to the Parthenon. 

A little bit of Greece in Tennessee

Our tour with Sophia finished up with Lunch at Jack’s Barbecue.

Lunch at Jack's BBQ

From Jack’s we ventured on without our guide on a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame. This place was amazing, the coolest part was the car from Smokey and the Bandit, 

My dream car

but aside from that it was the ability to record your own track to a song of your choice (not all country), mix the track, come up with an album cover, and then you can listen to it online (here is Nadia’s renditions of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"). From the Country Music Hall of Fame we wandered over to Tootsies Orchid Lounge, The #1 Honky Tonk Bar in the World, and it’s all ages until 7pm. The place was packed at 4pm on a Friday and the first floor had a bit of a feel of a college town bar late on a Friday night. We went up one floor and there were 3 guys with their guitars taking turns playing whatever the crowd requested. The only spot to sit was right up in front next to the musicians. Siena had her Taylor Swift shirt on which attracted the attention of one of the musicians, Donny Lee. He challenged the others to cover a Taylor Swift song, and one of the guys took up the challenge, but with the condition that Siena and Nadia come help him sing. To the cheers of the bar, and two pushy parents Siena and Nadia went up on the stage and joined in singing “Mean”. 

After Siena and Nadia’s world premier on the stage at Tootsies, Sophia picked us up and took us to dinner at Monell’s at the Manor. This place was a flashback to Sunday supper at my grandparents house when I was little. All the tables are 10+ people so our group of 6 was joined by 4 others. Then they serve you a giant southern feast of coleslaw, greens, cornbread casserole, beans, mashed potatoes, cucumbers vinegar salad, fried chicken, fried catfish, ribs, etc..

The next day we set off to experience the Grand Ole Opry, something we found out you don’t want to do on a Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I figured the place would be a nice old performing hall, what I didn’t expect was the giant mall and resort that blows away most anything I’ve seen in Las Vegas. 

Nadia and me in Opry Land

After our tour of the Grand Ole Opry resort we enjoyed our last dinner/supper in Nashville, an amazing pot roast prepared for us by Sophia. Thank you Sophia and Yuki for hosting us, and showing us your wonderful city. We hope we get to come back again soon!

Thank you Sophia, Yuki, Jojo and Ollie!