Day 9 - Nashville, Tennessee - t-shirt Tuesday

We awoke this morning to find yet another wet and rather dull day!.... but we were not to be deterred as there was so much more to do in Nashville! Our first call was the Grand Ole Opry to purchase tickets for tonights show at 7pm. Last year Nashville suffered a terrible flood and around Music Valley they are still reconstructing much of the area. The Opry itself suffered a lot of damage and was substantially rebuilt.

We explored some of the downtown area. Braving the rain we conducted a through search for T-shirts and alike. We visited some amazing shops such as the Hatch Show Print show that has a long history of producing posters for the many music venues in the area. It is quite a time warp and the style of printing remains unchaged to this day. We also visited two classic record stores Lawrence's and Tubbs.

Hatch Show Print shop, Nashville

Lunch was also on the strip at the renowned "Jack's Bar B-B-Que". After our delicious BBQ meat sandwiches we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, where the T-shirts were particularly good as was the CD selection.

We attempted to visit the Ryman Auditorium but arrived 5 mins after closure. We were to learn later that the nominations for the annual Country Music Association awards were held here. What was more exciting was the  show we were to attend at the Grand Ole Opry,included four of these nominees on the show billing. We didn't know any of them but they were all very good.

Ryman Auditorium (originl location of the Grand Ole Opry)

The Grand Ole Opry is in Music Valley and we went to one of the local restaurants where Paul finally sampled Catfish and was amused that is would arrive with Hush Puppies! These are in fact balls of deep fried corn bread.

The Grand Ole Opry was a slick show and it is broadcast live so throughout the show there are brief commerical breaks. What a line up of talent.... and  Maureen is not really a fan of country music! Paul however was in his element. Six artists and a Korean Comedian!. An excellent nights entertainment ! One of the funniest was the veteran 90 year old singer/comedian Little Jimmy Dickens.