A Day in Nashville

There are many blogs and Pinterest posts about what to do in Nashville. Most of them are geared to girls' weekends or multiple days. I was with the hubby who is not one to hit the bar scene or even the music scene. He tends to want to avoid crowds and usually goes along with whatever itinerary I plan because it's geared towards what I know he will like that I want to see. Since we only had one full day in Nashville and several things we wanted to see before going to the Nashville Sounds game, there was no lounging in bed at our Airbnb.

Country Music Hall of Fame -- Bucket List Item #944

This was probably the only place in Nashville I HAD to go to. We've been to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame a few years back and I couldn't wait to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Located just off of Broadway, the Country Music Hall of Fame is a tribute to the many great country stars of yesterday and today. We bought our tickets online ahead of time to skip the line and make sure we got our Studio B Tour time we wanted. Tickets were $41/person for both the hall of fame and Studio B. There was an option also for Hatch Show Print.

We got there at 9 AM to give us about an hour or so before we had to meet for the Studio B Tour. We really didn't need the whole hour but we tend to go through museums rather quickly.

The third floor, which is where you want to start, is dedicated to various stars in the Hall of Fame and in Country Music. There was a whole display dedicated to the Outlaws of Country.. Waylon, Willie, and others. Elvis' car was on display. A lot of great artifacts from a lot of great stars.

There are activities for children throughout the Hall of Fame as well as a dedicated area for them with specific activities at specific times.

The second floor is Hall of Fame Rotunda where it has the gold stars for everyone that is in the hall of fame. It is circular room and the inductees fill the walls. It is quite impressive and rather fun to see if you can find you favorite star.

Hat Show Print

Since we had to time to kill before our Studio B tour, we headed down the hall to the Hatch Show Print where they make just about every concert poster in Nashville. It is giant printing operation, complete with printing presses. Because we were there on Sunday, it was not in operation. Even if you don't go on the tour, it is worth checking out. There are windows in the hall where you can watch them make the signs and gift shop where you can buy prints to take home. The hubby only went along because we didn't have anything better to do. I would have love to look around longer but the hubby was like "I'm done."

RCA Studio B Tour -- Bucket List Item #4210

I contemplated if we really needed to go to Studio B and I'm glad we did opt to go with the tour. You can only visit RCA Studio B on a guided tour through the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was probably the Recording Studio for Country and Rock n Roll Music in the '60s.

Elvis recorded most of his songs in Studio B. You can stand in the exact spot that Elvis stood to record his songs at all hours of the day and night. He liked to record late at night.

If your schedule allows definitely take the tour of Studio B. It was well worth it if for no other reason to be in the same place as many great recording artists once stood.

Johnny Cash Museum -- Bucket List #4214
I will be honest. The only reason we went here is because the hubby is a HUGE Johnny Cash fan. I would probably have skipped it as I'm not a huge fan of Johnny. I like him but not enough to check to want to go to his museum.

The museum was small and crowded. It is $20/adult and I really don't think it was worth the $20. Maybe because it was so crowded that it was hard to see the displays. It did thin out a bit towards the back of museum but you were still fighting your way to see everything.

Personally, unless you are a Johnny Cash fan or have time to kill (even then I might find something else to do), skip it. Maybe if you are there during the week, the crowds might not be as bad and you could enjoy the museum.

Ryman Auditorium
This is the original Grand Ole Opry. It was built as a church and then later used as the home of the Opry. Take the tour, you will learn the history of it. There is a really cool movie about the history of the Ryman before you start your tour. This is one movie I didn't mind sitting through.

You can either take a guided tour of the Ryman or a self-guided tour. I don't know the price difference since we got our tickets as part of our Grand Ole Opry tickets. We did the self-guided tour. After the movie, you really don't need to do the guided tour.

Again, you can stand on stage and even belt out a tune if you want.

I am glad they were able to save the Ryman and restore it back to it's glory. It almost became a victim of the wrecking ball.

If you don't do anything else in Nashville, check out the Ryman. It's worth it.

Broadway
Here's where my great plan fell apart. We had time to kill which I didn't expect. I was more worried about not getting everything done.

Since Broadway is between The Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman, we walked down Broadway on the way to the Ryman. Broadway is Nashville's version of the Vegas strip.. bars, restaurants, shops all catering to country music, boots and hats, and drinking. There is live music going on much at any location all day long.

We popped in a few stores but we didn't go into any of the bars/restaurants. I really wanted to go in Tootsies but somehow we walked right by it and the hubby wasn't all about the bar scene. This probably the only regret I had is that we didn't take in the music of Broadway... even on a Sunday afternoon, it was happening.

To be fair we did sit on a ledge outside Loser's and listened to some music. Other than that my Broadway experience was pretty lame. Don't me like me and please experience Broadway the way it is meant to be experienced... music, drinks, and good times.

State Capitol/Polk's Tomb -- Bucket List Item #4206

I have a weird goal of trying to see all the state capitols. Since the capitol isn't too far from downtown and on the way to the ballgame, we headed over to the Capitol. Being Sunday we couldn't go the State Museum but I just wanted to see the capitol. Snap a picture and be done.

However, the capitol is worth actually getting out of the car for. Climb the stairs to entrance. Read the monuments out front.

Discover that James K Polk, the 11th President of the US, is buried right outside the capitol building. I'm a sucker for dead presidents so to stumble upon his tomb was worth the walk. I paid my respect and took a few pictures. Who know there was a former US President buried in Nashville.

Nashville Sounds
We ended the day at the Sounds game. This is whole reason we came to Nashville in the first place. The Sounds were in town. Another minor league stadium crossed off the list. More about the stadium and game in another post.

Overall our day in Nashville was geared towards our likes and dislikes. Sure there was places I wanted to see and didn't get to. I didn't have a back up plan if we ran ahead of schedule. My advice is plan your trip to Nashville based on what you want to see and do and not what some blogger or travel guru says you should do because everyone has different tastes.  There is no one trip for everyone. Our trip worked for us.. it probably would bore most people to death. Use the blogs and tips as a starting point and go from there. Make it as structured or as laid back as you want it to be.