More Exploring

Paul is doing well, in spite of the weekly blood tests, so we are now getting out more.

There is an article in the Tennessean titled "Ms. Cheap". She informs of great deals around the area. I set our calendar according to this article!! For the past two weeks it has been busy!

On the 193rd anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, we made our way to The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson.
There was a special ceremony, with wreath laying at his tomb, including the song "The Battle of New Orleans". This battle ended the War of 1812. History is so much more interesting when you can see it like this! Since it was also community appreciation day, there was no charge for entrance to the museum and tour. It was fascinating to tour his home and the grounds. Included were the grave site of Alfred, a slave born into slavery in 1812, who stayed on after the property became a museum in 1889. Upon his death in 1901, he was buried, at his request, in the garden beside the Jackson tomb. Also slave quarters, smoke house and outhouse (which, if I were thinking could have taken an interior picture of...Maintenance had opened it to check on the door and we were able to get a view very few get to see.... It was a four-seater!!) are still standing.

Ford sponsored a community appreciation day on Saturday for the Country Music Hall of Fame, so we were there on Saturday. It was really interesting to view all of the country music singers of past and present they have honored. One of the exhibits was even a car owned by Elvis, complete with thousands of silver dollars (even on the gas and brake pedals), and painted in 40 coats of paint that was made of crushed diamonds!! How expensive would that have been!! It looked like that pearl white you see on cars today, only with a little more sparkle to it.
(Sorry, no picture :( )

Friday night we returned to the Frisk to a concert by the Jubilee choir from Fisk University. It was an overflow, such that the 300 seat auditorium could not accommodate them, so they ended up doing two concerts. They were a fabulous group.

The highlight of our activities was last Sunday night! The Grand Ole Opry hosted a GAC Special TV Taping of "How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites Live From The Grand Ole Opry". We were fourth row back, which meant the camera was quite close. It is to be aired February 9 on the Great American Country station (GAC)...CD being released on February 5! The program included: Ronnie Milsap, Sara Evans,
Trace Adkins,
Lorettra Lynn, Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, Charlie Daniels and Carrie Underwood! It was so fantastic!

We are truly enjoying ourselves here. The weather is not that much different (In fact it sounds like they have had more rain and snow than we have!!!

Traveling in TN

Our first official "date" to Nashville was Friday. In looking for all the freebies and low cost activities, I found the Frist Center for the Arts. The display for this month was Societe Anonyme ....very modern art. Not being into modern art, we did not see a lot to appreciate, but low and behold, a piece that Paul would have done. It was a hanging snow shovel.....no joke.....REALLY! Paul thought it was the shadow on the wall that was the actual art, but with a title of "In advance of a broken arm-snow shovel" and medium being listed as wood handle with galvanized steel, I think IT was the art. It was actually a 1945 copy of the original 1915. (I wondered if it was copyrighted).

....and Paul thought this was better than the gopher museum I found. (All museums are now measured by comparison to the gopher museum. Yes, it was worth all 25 cents it took to enter! That was a previous trip prior to blogging!).

But the cool thing was the very first full-featured silent animated show, which was a shadow cartoon of The Adventures of Prince Ahmed... a prefilm of Aladdin's Lamp.

Following our visit, while waiting for the architectural tour and silent film, we went next door to the Union Station which is now the Union Station Wyndam Hotel.....it was absolutely gorgeous with the whole ceiling in Tiffany glass (mostly original 100 year old glass). Carpeting on the floor matched that of the ceiling glass. We were privileged to be approached by an older gentleman whose job there was as shoe shiner. He told us what rooms were when it was still the train station....including the waiting room for the blacks, where they bought their tickets, a ladies only lounge, complete with cribs for babies, and a telegraph office. He showed us an old picture of the building taken in 1900. He pointed out the digital clock in the clock tower, but it was replaced in 1918 because it was unable to be repaired. He was a wealth of information! Adjacent to this is a 5 story factory conversion to offices/shops, which we also explored.

We returned to the Frist for the free half hour tour, followed by the free silent film Metropolis, released in 1927. Even the popcorn was free! It was a real treat! The film produced a lot of laughs. It was a futuristic film of what life would be like in 2026! The expressions on the fellows at one time when a girl was dancing provocatively was hilarious! The costumes were the 20's as were the vehicles. The high rises were the architecture of the 20's as well. But the concept of raised roads full of vehicles, along with airplanes and trains throughout the city was pretty close! In the story, the workers rebelled against the rich, upper class. I would imagine it would have caused a stir back then!

I have a couple of other great trips planned in the next couple of weeks....all within an hour or so! I think because it is off season, no tourists, places are offering great deals.