A couple of weeks ago I had a long weekend trip to Nashville with a friend. If you missed that post you can check it out here We made the most of our time in Nashville and decided to visit some historical places. The first place we visited was the Parthenon.
The Parthenon in Athens Greece is a former temple that was dedicated to the Goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical greek art. But what is this Parthenon in Nashville you might ask.
The Parthenon in Centennial Park Nashville, is a full scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens Greece. It was originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition. When Tennessee celebrated its 100th year of statehood, Nashville took advantage of the nickname “Athens of the South’ and built this famous replica.
Within the Parthenon, and something I found so amazing, is a 42-foot-tall gold-coated sculpture of Athena. The original Parthenon was built as a temple dedicated to the Goddess Athena in Athens.
So here we were on our first day of the Nashville trip. We went to the Parthenon. It was about 9:30 in the morning. Tickets are about $10.00 per person and no charge for parking. Also there was lots of available parking. The hotel where we stayed actually gave us free tickets for entry.
Let me tell you a little about Centennial Park that circles the Parthenon. It is a beautiful park with lots of things going on. The park is located about two miles west of Downtown Nashville. While we were there, we saw soccer games, picnics, family get togethers, people walking their dogs and just enjoying the sunshine. The park itself is beautiful. And of course the 132 acre park features the Parthenon.
Getting into the Parthenon was a bit tricky because some construction work was going on near the entrance. We finally found our way in and started enjoying the photos lining the halls. Most of the beginning photos were of the history of the Parthenon being built.
We took a set of stairs leading to the second level and this is what we saw:
The Statue of Athena:
The re-creation of the 42-foot statue Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals.
I think she’s beautiful.
The Parthenon was actually decades old before Athena was added. The statue was created by Alan LaQuire, A Nashville native and Vanderbilt University graduate. It took LaQuire 8 years to complete the figure of Athena.
For 12 years, Athena was a plain, white statue. Then in 2002, Athena was gilded in gold to more closely resemble the original.
A close-up here of the shield.
Throughout the Parthenon artwork is on display in several sections. It has been a place to showcase artists from a lot of different areas.
I enjoyed our time at the Parthenon and Centennial Park. I would highly recommend going if you are in the Nashville area.
Hello and happy Sunday. Come in and have a nice cup of coffee or tea or some hot chocolate with me. Let’s catch up. What have I been up to you might ask? Well let me tell you about my weekend in Nashville last weekend. I had a short mini vacation with a friend from Pennsylvania.This is how it went:
Last weekend I spent a few days in Nashville with a friend from Pennsylvania. We met several years ago at a cave convention. Yes there really is such a thing. We just became friends really fast. We have been talking about this Nashville trip for years. Every time we planned it something came up and we weren’t able to do it. But it finally worked out.
My friend Ann flew into Nashville Friday afternoon. I am about 4 hours from Nashville. I picked her up at the airport and we started our adventure.
We stayed at the Hotel Vanderbilt which is very close to downtown without the horrendous downtown prices. Also a perk with this hotel is that we had shuttle service to and from a certain mile radius. This covered downtown. Another perk was the Commodore Grille within the hotel that offered amazing food and local song writers and singers every night.
Our first night in town we decided to go to the strip in Downtown Nashville on Broadway. I parked my car at the hotel and we checked in. Our room wasn’t ready but the hotel stored our bags and off we went via a short shuttle ride to downtown. It was so much fun and so loud. It is not for the faint of heart. Weekends in Nashville are a bit crazy. A singer from near Ann’s hometown in Pennsylvania, Josh Gallagher, would be singing in a couple of different bars during the weekend so we wanted to see him and his band perform. Josh was a top 4 finalist on The Voice in 2016. We caught the last few minutes of his performance on Friday night but he was also playing on Saturday at a different bar. One thing I love about Nashville is all of the wonderful music. So many country music legends have been discovered in small bars in Nashville. You never know, you might be watching the next Alan Jackson or Morgan Wallen.
As you can see it was fairly crowded. It was Friday night after all.
Josh Gallagher
It started to rain before dark, so we went to a couple of bars to hear music inside, and then decided to head back to the hotel for dinner, and listen to the singers and song writers in the Commodore Grille. The food there is amazing!!!
The rain started and the crowds dwindled somewhat
Rainy night in Nashville
Look at this salad topped with salmon!!!! So good.
We went into this candy store that smelled so wonderful you could smell it from the street. We only looked and didn’t purchase anything.
The first morning we were in Nashville there was a fire alarm at the hotel. Everyone was ushered outside where it was a balmy 32 degrees with a wind chill of a lot less than that. Fortunately we didn’t have to stay long. Apparently someone had pulled the fire alarm on one of the floors and broken it so it continued to sound for a long time. The fire department came and checked everything out.
For our first adventure of the day we decided to take the shuttle over to the Parthenon. I had never been. The Nashville Parthenon is the World’s only exact-size replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It is in the center of Centennial Park which is a large public park just west of Nashville. The park itself is just beautiful. A lot of activities were going on at the park on Saturday. Soccer games, picnics and lots of people out enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I will have a full post on the Parthenon later this week.
If I lived close to this park I would walk the trails here all the time. It is so beautiful.
Someone was getting ready to have a picnic
The Parthenon
Next, we got the car and drove down the road to Belle Meade Plantation. The history behind this mansion is so great. Mostly known for the thoroughbred stud business Belle Meade produced more than two thirds of all the Kentucky Derby winners including 11 Triple Crown Winners. A lot more of this history in a future post. There is just so much information here that I would like to share with you. It will be better done in a separate post.
Belle Meade Plantation
After our house tour we did a short wine tasting, there is a winery on site. We enjoyed a light lunch outside in the sunshine. It was so nice and relaxing. Ann and I both agreed it had been awhile since we had just chilled out and taken time to enjoy what was around us. A lesson to be learned here for sure. I will have a full post on Belle Meade later in the week as well. To give you a little information Belle Meade is actually a city with a population of less than 3,000 people. A beautiful place.
Before we left Belle Meade we visited the gift shop. It was so nice. There was something for everyone in the shop. I loved the handmade pottery by local artist Roy Overcast. He has done some amazing pieces.
So many to pick from.
I just had to bring a piece home. I love this color.
On Saturday night we returned to the downtown strip and it was so packed. I knew it would be on a Saturday night. We wanted to see Josh and his band again and catch the full show. They were playing at the Tin Roof. We got there about 30 minutes before his group came on. Lots of people were there for him. He has quite a following. Josh is from Pennsylvania but now lives in Nashville. He came over and talked after the show and we got a few pictures.
What a cutie he is, and just as nice.
My friend Ann with me
The strip on Broadway was getting crazy
We decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.
A yummy cosmo
We shared these chicken tenders. They were yummy and I like the way they were presented.
On our last day in Nashville we visited The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson. I had been here a few times but Ann had not. It was a bit chilly. The house tour was very short only about 30 minutes. The grounds were beautiful with a lot of the gardens starting to bloom out. Check out this cookbook I found in the gift shop. Southern Cakes. I have decided to make each of the cakes from this book. There are 60 cake recipes. I plan to share each one on my blog. I can’t wait to get started.
We couldn’t let Ann leave Nashville without visiting The Opry Mills Mall. We spent some time there and headed back to the hotel to visit The Commodore Club for the last night. We had an early night because Ann’s flight left out at 6:00 AM. I had to have her at the airport by 4:30 AM. Luckily the airport was only about 15 minutes from the hotel.
I think our mini vacation was well rounded. We had history, honky tonk, shopping and lots of great food. All things southern that makes Nashville such a great place to visit.
After I dropped Ann off I left for home. I had a 4 hour drive ahead of me.
It was very nice getting back home to hubs and the babies. I got everything unpacked and took a short nap. What a fun weekend we had hit it is always nice to get home.
I hope you enjoyed our time together. Our coffee share was quite a lot today. So now what have you been up to?
Always remember
Love your day your way!!!!
I am linking up with Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share. Check out her latest post and lots of others here #Weekend Coffee Share
Hello and happy Tuesday!!! Another busy and full week last week. We finally got my mother in law moved to a care facility closer to us. She is doing as well as can be expected. We are just taking it day by day. We are trying not to expect too much and hoping and praying for the best. She is ninety years old and we are realistic about how things can change quickly with her.
Last week was also a crazy work week. My work is starting to get really busy. Between work and going back and forth visiting my mil there wasn’t a lot of down time. She sleeps most of the time it is hard to rouse her to talk. I do think she knows we are there and that she gets some comfort from that.
I did take a couple of hours last weekend to make these cute paper roses. I saw the idea on Instagram and then went to YouTube and found a few videos. I love the way they turned out. Once you get the hang of it they’re really easy to make. I made these while watching a DIY on YouTube called Paper Book Roses.
I hated the idea of cutting up a book. I want to the thrift store and bought a couple of really old books. I think that made the roses even better because it gave them a more vintage look. Instead of trying to tell you or show you how to make them, and if you are interested in making them, just google paper roses or roses made from book pages or something like that and you will get lots of different ways to do them.
I also finished knitting a scarf over the weekend. I was really close to finishing and finally just buckled down and finished it. I love red and I think this will go great with a lot of things. It is almost getting too warm here for scarves but there is always next year. I am trying so hard to focus on some of the projects I have started and finishing them!!!!
And every chance I get I am working on my nephews’ Afghan. I am doing this one in gray and navy blue, Tennessee Titans colors. That is his favorite team. This one is crocheted and it is nice to switch from knitting to crochet every now and then.
Isn’t this the cutest brooch. I bought it a couple of weeks ago at one of my local thrift stores. I almost forgot about it. I started to throw the bag away and it was in the bottom. I collect some of the really big brooches. I love the unique ones. I don’t really like to wear them but I plan to use them for a project one day. I do occasionally put them on a purse or hat.
Isn’t she pretty?
I leave you with a picture of our work cat. Her name is Anthodite which is a cave formation made up of crystals. We call her Anthey for short. She showed up about two years ago. She is a bit feral and only comes around when there is not a lot of people around. There are a few of us who have been lucky enough to pet Anthey, for just a second or two, but she is very selective. I would love to take her home someday. she is the most precious girl and has made it for quite a while in the wild.
Anthey
So yes a very busy week but I did want to catch up with all of you. My blog is my happy place and I love reading blog posts from my fellow bloggers. I am catching up on some of those right now. Have a wonderful rest of your week.
Hello and happy Monday how was your weekend? It rained all weekend and most of today. But at the end of the day the clouds suddenly parted and the sun came out. It was a nice surprise.
Over the weekend I decided to bake a pound cake in my bundt pan. I have had this pan for years. It weighs a ton. I got it from my husband’s grandmother. I haven’t used it for a long time. I got the pan out, it is cast iron, greased it really well and made my cake. I decided for extra moistness I would add an additional egg, some extra butter, and a little extra water to the mix.
Oh I forgot to mention it also stuck to the pan.
At first all looked well. The cake rose beautifully, even though my oven is somewhat on its last legs, and that may be what I am getting for Valentine’s Day. I know, so romantic. But when I took the cake out it seemed to deflate. It sunk down to about half the height that it was. But it tasted great anyway. I think adding all the extras was probably a little too much. In the past I have added a couple of things but it was probably a little too much at one time.
On Saturday I visited a couple of thrift stores in search of some bottles for my bottle tree. I didn’t have any luck. I had ordered a few extra from Amazon and I put those on the tree. Even though I didn’t find any bottles I did find a few other things that I just couldn’t seem to pass up.
I still have several stems for bottles. I will continue my search. I think that will be half the fun.
First, this purse. I just love it. The tag had spring purse on the label. I found it at a local antique mall. The booth was a new one with a lot of great stuff. The purse is brand new. I don’t think it would hold a lot of things but it will be perfect for spring and summer. It’s also quite large. It may make a good knitting bag.
Next, A few weeks ago I bought these green glass bottles and this week I found the little glass flowers. I think they go great together.
I bought this book by Beverly Cleary. I had so many of her books growing up. I still have a lot of them. This is one I didn’t have so I was so happy to get it.
Next, I love this little yellow McCoy bowl. I will probably save it to give as a Birthday gift to someone. I actually bought it with them in mind.
And finally look at these stickers. I don’t know about where you are from but stickers are big now. We sell a lot of them in our gift shop at work. I work with a lot of young people. They will love these. All of these stickers came in a small pack for $1.00. There are ten different stickers in each pack!!! I bought three packs because I didn’t really know if they were stickers. They are, and I plan to give them out to our team members. I will go back and get more of these.
Look at the lake at our house. Because of all the rain over the weekend the lake rose quickly and it is really muddy.
I leave you with a picture of my little Izzy. She is so adventurous and a scaredy cat at the same time. She is mama cat’s favorite of the outside kitties. But you didn’t hear that from me.
Southern Patches 