N, N, N, Nashville (Open All Hours)

Didn't really know what to expect of world renowned music city but as soon as we got into the locally named Smashville we loved it! Not just a live music joint on every corner, but also every place inbetween and on every level.

We spent the first day trying to avoid going into every bar we saw, but we didn't do a very good job! We had a fantastic bbq at Pucketts, thanks to Jo's ex-colleague Suzanne's local recommendations. We were pretty full after mains but the Pecan and Caramel Cobbler wouldn't let us leave without it, and doing much of anything after that was tough!

The following morning we went out to the Hermitage, the plantation of Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the US. It was really interesting place, but wished it told more of the slave's stories like the excellent Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's country home) did. Sounds like politicians being wealthy is not a new thing, but to be fair Mr Jackson was a self-made man whose father died before he was born & became an orphan at age 14, that said a lot if his wealth was built upon the back of slave labour.

That evening we hit the town and took in as many bands (and beers) as possible! We started fancy in a local urban chic bar (amazing cocktails) and then went full on Smashville on the main strip. Surpringly to us our favourite band were playing 50/60s rock and roll classics.

We crawled into bed in the small hours and crawled out again a few hours later for the 8am England v Wales game. We got to 'The Pub' hoping for some atmosphere but we were the only ones there. Fortunately Vardy and Sturridge didn't disappoint in the end so the headache didn't seem quite as bad. This was a roaster of a day hitting 100F so we had to spend the day hunting out aircon and avoiding the bars. The Jonny Cash museum was pretty interesting, but the film was much more informative (if you haven't seen it, do). We had a really nice evening with Suzanne and Eric, Jo's (ex) work mate and husband, in a funky chicken joint (FYI Nashville Hot is pretty hot!) and ended up in the brewery next door.Read more