Touring Nashville - Parthenon and Hermitage #Nashville #birthdaytrip

On the day we were to head home (Tuesday), we stopped on our way out at the Parthenon (in Centennial Park) and at the Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's home).  We would have stopped at the Parthenon on the trolley tour, but the one day it's closed is the one day we took the trolley tour.  So it was postponed to the next day.

The Parthenon was very impressive.  Built for the centennial exhibition, it was originally out of wood and plaster.  Eventually, due to popularity, it was rebuilt in concrete.  The statue of Athena is to size as the original.

The Hermitage is an interesting side trip.  A chance to see an old plantation and hear some of the history behind it.  Not as much fun when it's cold outside, though.  You can't take pictures inside the home, but it was very nice.  You can see the family cemetery plot as well as slave cabins and the original home before the big house was built.

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Touring Nashville - Old Town Trolley Tour #Nashville #birthdaytrip @nashtrolley

Monday my husband and I took the Old Town Trolley Tour to see the sights.  They picked us up at Wyndham and dropped us off at the start of their tours.  During the tour you can hop off to check out the stop and then hop back on when a bus comes by.  Trolleys left the first stop every 20 minutes.  It took maybe 30 minutes from when we got off until the next bus came by.  When you get back on you show your ticket and off you go. Our first driver was Chris, he did a great job.  We had two other drivers, unfortunately I can't remember names.

The first stop we jumped off at was Bicentennial Park.  There's a farmer's market here that we stopped in at and got hot cider/coffee.  You can see the capital building on one end of the park and a carillon on the other end.  Various monuments and markers are located throughout.

We were goofy enough to brave the cold and walk to this stop.  You can also visit Antique Archaeology's shop here.  I was disappointed in the size of the shop.  The show (American Pickers) had me primed for it to be a bigger size.  The motorworks, though, was fun to check out.  Little shops and all are on the inside, with the history of the automaker too..

These are cars built by the motorworks.  They're located across the street, though.

Union Station.  It's a beautiful hotel on the inside.

Very convenient, we enjoyed the facts that the rivers gave us as we rode.  We got off at one stop to get lunch (labelled Hot Chicken on their map).   A nice farm to fork restaurant.  At the end, we asked for a recommendation for hot chocolate and was given a little ice cream shop just down from the first trolley stop.  Great hot cocoa.  I had spanish dark chocolate cocoa, my husband had peanut butter.  The trolley also took us back to the resort when we were done. 

It's a great way to check out the city if you're not sure where to go or start.  There's a two day pass for $10 more.  Some of the other riders used one day to just ride the circuit, not getting off.  Then second day went back to the sights they'd noted on the first day and did the hop on/off.

Touring Nashville - Gaylord Opryland Resort #Nashville #birthdaytrip

My husband took me on a short get-away for my 50th birthday.  We stayed at the Wyndham resort.   I shared some of the photos last week on my instagram account.  These are the photos I took with my camera.  We drove up Sunday, arrived around lunch time.  We had lunch at a place called the Aquarium Restaurant (pictures on my instagram).  After lunch we wandered over to the Gaylord to take a look.  If you go, park at the Opry Mills mall on the cinema side of the mall.  Parking is free (they charge $30 at the Gaylord) and there's a sidewalk that you can easily walk to get to the resort.