Saturday night around 9:30pm I arrived in Nashville. Being so late in the day there is really not much to say other than the drivers here are like anyplace else. The taxi ride to the hotel was uneventful but it was interesting to see that most of the people we encountered on the street were already hammered. Ah the south.
After checking into the hotel and unpacking slightly Jim and I went to the bridge bar and had a quick supper with a few drinks and off to bed.
Sunday morning I awoke and did a bit of research around the surrounding area. At 9am I grabbed a quick coffee and started off to walk around the hotel area. Scouting around I found a few Sushi places, a BBQ place and a Walgreens. The streets were surprisingly hilly, reminding me of down town San Francisco more than anything. After an hour of walking I was already working up a sweet in the humid 80 degree weather.
At 10am I met up with Jim. Jim and I spent most of the afternoon wandering around the downtown Nashville area. We saw many interesting places, unfortunately almost everything was closed on Sunday.
We walked down to the riverfront area, across the river is the Tennessee Titan’s stadium (pictured), nearby was a reconstruction of the original settlement. Up the road we came to an interesting moral dilemma, I will leave it to the audience to make their own conclusions. Look closely at this sign.
Eventually we made it down to Broadway Street and found Rippy’s Ribs. I tried the pulled pork sandwich, beans and corn cake. The corn cake turned out to be corn bread pancakes. They were very tasty. The beans were nice and spicy, but the pork was a disappointment. The sauce lacked flavor and the meat was just so-so.
After lunch we went to the hotel bar and watched some football, checked into the convention and wandered outside for dinner. For dinner we heard about a sushi place called Sam’s Sushi. The reviews were interesting, the owner would normally only serve regulars and will not always make what you ordered. So we had some reservations about the place but decided to give it a go.
Sam’s Sushi turned out to be a small hole in the wall with about three tables. The only employee, Sam, has worked 2000+ days serving lunch and dinner without missing a single days work. Sam was very nice, told us we ordered too much and made half of our order. Good thing too as the sushi here was twice the size of any other sushi place I had been to previously. We each are the two rolls he made for us and decided to just split one more roll. The grand total for both of us with drinks… $15. We will be back here soon I imagine.
Now I am just going to relax, double check the schedule and when each session is scheduled and prepare mentally for 4 mind numbing days of lectures.
It is hard to believe that it has already been 8 years, but today is Danith and my 8th anniversary. I remember that crazy day in late 2000 and all the planning leading up to it. We were planning our wedding and closing on our first house together. What a busy time in our lives yet filled with fond memories.
