We spend this trip’s last few days in Nashville primarily revisiting spots we have enjoyed.  

On Monday we go to The Row for the bbq and the music. They have a rotating group of performers who do a 50 minute set working for tips. The music is from 6-10pm every night. The food is decent and the entertainment is usually pretty good.

Each morning I take one of my favorite routes for my walk. One takes me past Barcelona restaurant where we had a good meal of tapas and paella a few weeks ago. Another slips through Vanderbilt University, and a third routes through The Gulch and back up Broadway.

A new destination for a walk is Belmont University, a mile from the Airbnb apartment. Belmont is a private Christian college and the site of the Belmont Mansion. It housed the first radio station in Nashville in 1922 and will be the site of the third presidential debate of 2020. I walk through part of the campus and catch some photos near the mansion.

Friday afternoon after doing the laundry and completing most of our packing we walk back to Casa de Montecristo. Unfortunately William twists his foot on an uneven spot in the road and takes a rolling fall. Fortunately he doesn’t break anything. Faced with the choice of continuing on to the cigar lounge or returning to the apartment he decides to press on. We have a relaxing, enjoyable time then summon an Uber to take us back. A dramatic finish to a nice month in Nashville.

Cheekwood is a historical estate with large gardens located in Nashville. In non-Covid times the estate is a venue for concerts and many group activities. Sigh. Happily the estate is at least open to visitors with pre-purchased admission. The timed tickets provide access to the 55 acres including gardens and entry to the mansion. An added bonus is the Chihuly glass which is on display in the mansion and on the grounds.

The mansion was completed in 1932 and occupied by Leslie and Mable Cheek and subsequently members of their family until 1957 when it was proposed to become a public garden and fine arts center. Fun fact: Leslie was born into a wealthy business family, but he made most of his money from his stock in Maxwell House Coffee when it was bought by Postum Company (later renamed General Mills).

We spend an hour meandering through the 36 room, eleven bedroom, twelve bathroom mansion. Several rooms have been converted into galleries of artwork, notably Chihuly glass at this time. We particularly like the Loggia room with it’s wide doors and windows leading to the Swan Lawn.

​The gardens are very beautiful and the Chihuly glass is very interesting. The Estate has a separate evening program with the glass illuminated, something that could be quite fun. For today we walk through some of the gardens and enjoy a beautiful afternoon.

Our Airbnb apartment is just a few blocks from Vanderbilt University. So in addition to the small number of tourists in the area we are provided with plenty of students for our people-watching activities.

Vanderbilt was founded in 1873 by the Methodist Church using an initial $1 million endowment from Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping and rail tycoon.

​There’s evidence that on-campus activities are very different due to Covid-19. A mask is required everywhere, indoors and out. Students are allowed to remove them in their dorm rooms. 😁 Even the statue of Vanderbilt wears a mask. Huge tents have been setup in the Commons for students to social distance while eating their meals or studying. It may be the time of day that I normally walk through, but I rarely see them used. Mostly I see students with cafeteria take-out meals headed back to their dorm room. A bellwether of the times is a sign encouraging try-outs for an a cappella group - which will be conducted virtually. Let’s hope that the school doesn’t have an outbreak which causes administrators to require all classes to go virtual.

It’s a pleasant morning as I pack a picnic lunch for our outing to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. Like many tourist locations in these Covid-days, tickets must be purchased in advance online, so I also take care of that detail and around noon we jump into the car for the short 14 mile drive.

Beginning in 1804 Hermitage was the home of Andrew Jackson, who became the 7th President of the United States. From 1804 - 1821 he and his wife Rachel and their family lived in a log cabin on the estate. There were also log cabins for their slaves and work buildings such as a smokehouse and barns. We walk through this section of the property listening to a self-tour while we wait for our 1:30 pm tour of the mansion.

Following the tour we stroll through the garden and visit the tombs of Andrew and Rachel as well as the small family cemetery.

​We’re getting hungry and it is easy to find a table under a nice shade tree. We pull out our picnic and enjoy the lovely estate on a pleasant day.

William’s foot is feeling better and he thinks it’s time for a longer outing. It’s good to have a rewarding destination, and William chooses the cigar lounge "Casa de Montecristo" on the eastern edge of The Gulch as the reward.

​We take our time on the walk to the lounge. Once inside William consults with a salesman and chooses a cigar from humidor room while I settle into a comfortable chair.  We order drinks and the Travel Trolls make a visit. We talk and people-watch while the size of William’s cigar diminishes. When it’s just a stub we gather ourselves and make the mostly uphill but shaded walk back to Music Row. It was a rewarding, relaxing destination.

On my walks I like to explore neighborhoods near Music Row. Today I walk further into the area known as The Gulch. It is filled with chic hotels, high-end fashion boutiques and trendsetting restaurants and bars. The Frist Art Museum and the Union Station hotel anchor it firmly on Broadway Street to the north and Interstate 65 to the South.

​On weekends the area is usually filled with people, especially at night. The volume of abandoned scooters left on or beside the sidewalk speaks to their popularity as transport to the start of an evening.  Saturday mornings there is an outdoor yoga class. Along with all the restaurants and bars one of the major tourist draws is the Nashville What Lifts You Wings Mural by Kelsey Mountague. There is queue for taking photo’s in front of the mural even on a Sunday morning during these reduced-tourism Covid times!

It’s Sunday, fun day. This afternoon we load up the Nashville Downtown Public Art and Murals walking tour on my smartphone and drive to the Bridgestone Arena to begin our tour.

During the two mile tour we not only see art and murals but also Nashville sites such as Music City Center, the Walk of Fame, Symphony Center and the Ryman Auditorium.

​We cross Broadway a couple of times, chuckling at the number of people overflowing into the streets outside the bar-restaurants which are hosting live music. There are lines of people waiting to get a seat and other people just partying on the pavement. If this is what it’s like on a Sunday afternoon during this low-tourist time it has to be absolutely crazy on a Saturday night in normal times. Everyone is supposed to be wearing masks and there are people handing them out on street corners as well as Police asking people to wear them.
Our walk with all of it’s stops and our slow pace (especially going up the hills) takes us just under two hours - enough exercise for an afternoon.

As we researched and built a list of cities to explore in Tennessee, Chattanooga kept coming up, so of course we have to go take a look!

Chattanooga is a two hour drive and we hit the road around 8 am with plans to have a late breakfast somewhere along the drive. As I search for restaurants I keep coming up with chains - not what we want. Finally I find Dixie Lee Diner in the town of Monteagle and just five minutes off of I25. It’s a cute little diner with just one other patron. The menu is basic, but our omelettes and the biscuits are very good.

Our next stop is Ruby Falls which now requires online advanced sale tickets timed every 15 minutes. As we drive along I go online hoping to buy tickets for 11:15 or 11:30. I am surprised to see that the first tickets now available are for noon. I quickly buy them...only to then realize that Ruby Falls is in the Eastern, not Central time zone. Crud! We have 30 minutes until the start of the tour and Google Maps says we have a 24 minute drive through mountains to get there. With much luck we walk up to the ticket counter right at noon and the woman points us to our tour group which is just beginning to assemble.

Ruby Falls is a 145 foot waterfall found within an underground cavern. Our tour starts with an elevator ride to the floor of the cavern. The guide takes us through almost a half mile of paths to reach the falls, telling the history of the cave and it’s owners along the way. Once at the falls we are given 10 minutes to look around and take photos. It is interesting, but 10 minutes is sufficient. Then we backtrack much of the same way to reach the elevator. I am intrigued, seeing some of the cave formations from the reverse angles makes them just as interesting (or more so) as the first time we walked the path. After the tour William and I agree that it was worth the $20 admission.

We drive through some of the neighborhoods of central Chattanooga, checking out the housing. One thing is certain - Chattanooga is a hilly city. Some of the roads and driveways feel like they are at 45 degree angles. The downtown itself, lying along the banks of the Tennessee River has 10-12 square blocks of relatively flat land. The town is nice, but our first impression isn’t one that says we need to spend a lot of time here.