Music City

After the drama of my last post, it's nice to return to a more pleasant set of memories for the travelogue. As I wrote in that post, we had no further issues upriver and it was actually a pleasant, calm cruise, with little traffic due to the lock closure. By the time we arrived at Nashville we were settled down from all the excitement, and looking forward to our visit.


Vector at the dock in Nashville, with downtown across the river.

We pulled up to downtown around 5:30 to find just one other boat on the dock, a looper who had arrived in town the previous day and was at the far south end. We tied up at the very north end of the dock (map) for a little shorter walk to get ashore. The city was not charging for power, because the pedestals all need repair and many are inoperative, but we found a working 50-amp and had power our entire stay.

Immediately above the dock is a pedestrian bridge, 80' above the river and a nice restoration of a historic highway truss bridge. A short walk from the dock ramp is an elevator to access the bridge, and the other end of the bridge deposits you directly in the center of the action of downtown Nashville. We did have to jimmy the latch to get off the dock, because the fancy code lock on the gate was completely inoperative.


Sunset view, from the pedestrian bridge. What looks like a coaster track to the right of the boat is a sculpture between old barge gantry tracks, in prominent view when walking down Broadway.

After a long day we went to one of the closer, quieter joints across the bridge, which turned out to be an odd Japanese-Tennessee fusion. We were too dog-tired to wander around town or along the "Honky-tonk highway" just a couple of blocks away. After dinner we walked back across the bridge and collapsed into bed early.

Nashville has a large homeless population, drawn here by the huge number of tourists that make for good pan-handling.  They are in every nook and cranny of the city, and the park adjacent the dock is no exception. Not wanting to continue breaking into the dock with a pocket knife with this sort of audience, I emailed the city about the lock. They sent someone right out the next morning, who assessed it as not repairable in-place, and took it back to the shop. We put our combination bike lock on the gate and gave the combo to the other boat.


This entertainer bus was parked at the Ryman. They stole our bus paint scheme.

Tuesday morning I started right in on trying to line up a diver. When we had spoken to TowboatUS about getting towed off the rocks, they told us they had a diver if we needed one, so I started there, leaving a voice message and later a text. I also called the nearby marina and boatyard, Rock Harbor, which is too shallow for us to enter, and they gave me a number for a diver as well. I left a message for him, too.

When I had not heard back from either of them by the afternoon, I called the scuba shop in town, to see if they had someone on staff or one of their customers who did this sort of work. Here again, I had to leave a message. Out of all the messages, not a single one returned my call the entire time we were in Nashville. We have friends near town, and I would have loved to message them and perhaps get together, but we could not make any plans for fear of missing a lone shot at a diver.


The riverboat General Jackson passing under the pedestrian bridge, which you can see reflected in the water.

I did take the e-Bike out and explore town both days. Louise had a very large box of quilts to ship off, and so my first stop was the UPS store, which happens to be in the Music City Center, the convention venue. Louise had looked up a rate of $24, so when the store told me $44, I plotzed. Turns out there is a "convenience" fee at UPS stores in convention centers. I asked if it would be any different at the one in the Omni Hotel down the street: nope.

I ended up taking it to the post office instead, for $32. The post office is a small facility in a building that once was the enormous main post office for Nashville, since moved to the suburbs, but is now  the Frist Art Museum. It's a great re-use for this art deco building.


The old L&N Union Station, now a hotel.

Considering most mail of the era moved by rail, it's not surprising that just a few steps away is the historic Louisville & Nashville railroad station, Union Station. The station has had a multi-million dollar facelift and renovation and is now a high-end hotel; I enjoyed seeing the lobby in the old waiting room.


The lobby of the Hermitage Hotel downtown.

I visited another historic hotel on my ride, the Hermitage, named after Jackson's nearby plantation. I went here, as so many do, specifically to see the lobby men's room, restored to its art deco glory, yet still a functioning rest room (and the only men's room for the Capitol Grill in the hotel). A brass placard outside the door warns that female tourists might be found within, and sure enough, I opened the door to find a couple inside taking photos. They beat a hasty retreat.


The men's room at the Hermitage. Shoe shining by request using the house phone.


Fair warning.

Of course I also rode by the honky-tonk highway, the Ryman Auditorium (which is nowadays impossible to photograph), The District, SoBro, and the riverfront park. Wednesday afternoon I rode out to the Capitol Mall and visited the Tennessee State Museum.


Capitol building as seen across the granite map of the state in the mall.

Tuesday evening we strolled past all the honky tonks at dinner time, stopping in front of a couple to take in the music. Frankly, it's a little over the top, and very touristy. It's not the Nashville from my first visit here 35 years ago, or even of perhaps just a decade ago. Like many such places, it's become a caricature of itself.


Union Station as seen from the trolley. Marriott Hotel at right.

While many long-standing local establishments are still here, such as Tootsie's, which celebrated its anniversary with an enormous block party Wednesday, every storefront is now filled in with such megalithic chains as Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville, Joe's Crab Shack, and the like. Honestly, I don't get it: go all the way to Nashville to eat at... Joe's? There are plenty of very good local places, and we enjoyed seeking them out.


Broadway blocked off for Tootsie's 59th anniversary party.

Wednesday morning we did the cheesy tourist thing we often do in places like this: we took the Old Town (another chain) Trolley Tour. These are great for someone who can't do much walking, as you often move through town at just over walking speed while the operator gives a live narration, often peppered with humor. In Nashville the tour makes 15 stops and you are welcome to hop off at any and hop back on another trolley, although we opted not to get off at any stops. We had a very good guide.


We had to laugh when the recorded intro message for the tour appeared on the monitors at this angle.

We lingered at the dock until after lunch Thursday, knowing no one else would be coming in, as the dock was closed Friday for the rowing race. That gave me the chance to pick up a few groceries and also go up to the Nashville City Club to take it the high panoramic view. We opted not to eat at the club on this visit as there were too many other good choices in town, closer to the boat.


One of the things you can see on the tour -- a 1:1 replica of the Parthenon.

We dropped lines after lunch and had a blissfully uneventful trip back downriver to the dock at the Riverview Restaurant in Ashland City, which I mentioned in the last post. The visit to Nashville was just a hair too short; I would have stayed another two nights. But we could not justify making a 50-mile round trip up to Old Hickory Lake and back just to have another couple of nights here.