It was harsh landing in Nashville after Orlando and I felt the cold *really* bad. Flying into Nashville, from what I could see I just knew I would love it. Apart from the comment from the Delta employee when I shivered as I put my polar fleece on when leaving the plane. The first sentence I hear in Nashville is “Get used to this missy… you ain’t at Disneyland anymore!” PFFFT! I already had an attitude from my baggage adventures early so up went the volume on my iPod!
Walking through the airport to the baggage claim I couldn’t help but smile. Where else in the world would you have country music stars giving the general announcements at an airport?! The advertising in the airport was just country, country, country. It was heaven!
It was about 4pm by the time I got to check in at the hotel and the chance to bounce around on my big big king size bed. I quickly noticed that there was nothing of real substance around the hotel and with flurries in full swing walked down to the main strip area of bars and places to eat. I grabbed some BBQ and had a great time with the guys who ran Jacks BBQ – they seemed freaked out by my accent which I found hard to believe considering the touristy area that I was in. Although, Jack’s wouldn’t be a place that an Australian would normally eat at by checking out the menu on the door, so maybe not! I got to taste test some of the other BBQ sauces and downed my BBQ Turkey with gusto. It was then time to stock up on postcards and the cold was downright miserable so I headed back to the hotel for an early night.
The Holiday Inn Express chain is a favourite because I know what I am going to get at each place. They are all basically the same with breakfast included and I LOVE their showerheads. You can even buy them. If I ever buy a place that needs a shower curtain, I am also going to by the HI Express waffle shower curtains – just gorgeous!
On Thursday I got up early to go and check out what breakfast was like – it was more than the usual HI Express brekky (which is still grouse!) – this had biscuits and gravy, scrambled egg, sausage, lots of juices and froot loops! The facilities at the Nashville HI Express are fantastic as there is just so much space, no lining up, popcorn and cookies in the foyer from 4pm onwards – just all great touches! It was so cold so I decided to have a day of rest. Wooohoo! At 10am I got back in my PJs, grabbed the remote and snuggled in for a day of Anna Nicole overload on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and CNN Headline News and watching CMT, Maury, Tyra and get a Days of our lives catch up!
My diet for Thursday consisted of –
and
and
If I was going to watch trash, I was going to eat it too!
It was great having a PJ day – I stretched over the king size bed, reading bad magazines, had little sleeps on and off and covered my feet in moisturiser and wore fluffy socks. Definitely was needed!
I might as well also confess now. My cable news addiction got a little out of control while over there. Basically I would start with local news and the weather channel in the morning. I love how they all have traffic and weather on the 8’s! Then I would flick between all the morning shows on CNN/Fox/Headline News. I wish we had Headline News here – I love their reporting and the fact they love covering car chases! Then I would head over to MSNBC and watch The Most with Alison Stewart. I remember Alison hosting Jumpstart on VH1 when I lived in Amarillo so she has come a long way since then! I would then move onto Studio B with Shep on Fox, then Nancy Grace on Headline News(it is addictive TV – I can’t help it!), Larry King on CNN and then Greta on Fox. PHEW!
From the minute Anna Nicole died it had been saturation coverage on all cable news and entertainment shows. I really felt for Broward County ME, Dr Sherper. I feel like he was my travelling companion I spent so much time listening to him talk. But every night he would start on Nancy Grace, then be on Larry King and then on Greta. Answering the same questions every single time no matter how stupid they were. That guy deserved a medal because I think I heard all of the stupidest of stupid questions that one person could ever be inflicted with, be inflicted on him every single night. But I still couldn’t look away.
So Thursday in Nashville wasn’t great on the tourism stakes but it was my kind of holiday! Stupid questions, Doritos and all.