After a hot shower, I felt positively human again, and I ventured out on the hunt for some breakfast. The guy at the hostel reception recommended 417 Union, as they serve all day breakfast. It was a fancy-ish looking cafe, and I certainly felt out of place since it had been raining and I turned up looking like a drowned rat. I had pancakes, which were tasty, but seemed a little over-priced, especially since I explicitly said "no butter" and it was served..with butter. Oh well! I was very pleased that it had stopped raining by the time I left, so that made up for the whole "butter fiasco". The place was only a few blocks away from the hostel, but that was still pretty far in the rain..!
I went back to the hostel to regroup, which basically meant updating my blog and check my Facebook, then went out into Broadway. I wandered around the streets for a little bit, taking in the country vibe, then ended up in Honky Tonk Central. I enjoyed it last night, and it was also the place that had the random 8 year old singing yesterday afternoon. Basically, it seems like a good place!
I set myself up at the bar, and just enjoyed the atmosphere. There was a group of drunk army guys (but "not the ass-hole kind") a couple of stools down, and I ended up chatting with them. One of them, a guy from Georgia, opened the conversation with "I'll bet you're from the north, ain'tcha?". I was slightly taken aback by such a random question, but told him that no, I'm from England. This absolutely blew his mind! "What, England? Really? NO F-ING WAY!". I think he was impressed..? Either way, he plonked down onto the stool next to me, and insisted I talk to him in my accent. What other accent would I talk in..?! He also insisted that he could talk to me all night, but quite quickly abandoned me (along with his friends) for a table full of drunk, pretty girls. What can I say, I'm no match for an entire table, especially since they were willing to dance and I kept refusing!
I did later give in, and was taught how to "two-step", after a lot of insisting on his part. I kept saying that I have no sense of rhythm, and two left feet, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. I asked the bar-tender (Sue Bobby, from West By God Virginia, whose name was really Ashley. Weird place) to mind my purse, and "two-stepped" down the length of the bar. It was a pretty simple dance, but I still frequently messed it up! I escaped back to the safety of my bar stool quite quickly, and left him to try his luck with some of the other women. It was more fun watching that!
A little later, their friend passed out at the bar, and they had to carry him to their truck outside. This kind of depressed me, since all the other customers in the bar thought it was hilarious, and rather than offering to help, they just stood around laughing and videoing it. Jerks. It was a pretty sad taste of current humanity, and I left the bar in disgust. To be fair to the staff, they all tried to help, including the female singer.
I hope you guys managed to get Hank home in one piece, and good luck to Dan on his 5 mile run tomorrow!
After this, I went back to the hostel, decided there was nothing to do there, and went back to Broadway. I wandered around a little more, then I got myself some ice cream and wandered some more.
It's fun people-watching in Nashville, trying to spot the real locals from the tourists. I think the locals are the one in the baseball caps, or the battered cowboy hats, not the pristine, new ones. They're also the ones who aren't so keen on the "country-pop" songs like "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line, unlike the non-locals who go crazy whenever someone sings it.
I managed to spill ice cream all down my top, so I'm back in the hostel, trying to decide where to go next. I wasn't a huge fan of the night-scene, but if I manage to find myself a stool somewhere it isn't too bad. We'll see!
My room-mate gave me her ticket for the hop-on/hop-off bus tour, since it's valid for 24 hours and she won't need it that long. I'll probably check that out tomorrow morning to see a little more of Nashville. It runs out at 2pm though, so I might actually have to get out of bed before noon. Shocking!
(My laptop just scared me half to death, as it's set to British time, and therefore tells me it's 1.30am on the 12th. I thought that meant that I leave tomorrow, but I thankfully I still have another full day..!).
It seemed strange to me that the guys at the bar were so shocked that I was travelling by myself. They thought it was amazing, "bad ass", and drink-clinking worthy. They also couldn't figure out why I was here in Nashville. I don't think "because I like country music" seemed like a sufficient reason. Maybe it's a culture thing, I don't know. I just have the mentality of "hey, I want to do this thing, let's go do it!", whether it's "I want ice cream", "I want to go to Nashville", or even "I want to go to America"! I think life is more fun that way.
All the best,
Charli
(aka "England")
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