Nashville, Day One

So, work sends Gaspar and I to Tennessee. We stopped in Nashville on our way to Murfreesboro, a town about an hour away. There's no way you can stop by Nashville, TN without stopping by... you guessed it! The Parthenon!

What?! Yes, that's what I asked myself upon entering Nashville Airport, searching for "things to do" and finding "The Parthenon" hidden in between entries about Country Music and the Ole Opry. Apparently Nashville was once known as "Athens of the South" and so, in the 1897 fair they built a full scale replica of the original Parthenon. Apparently a bunch of other ancient buildings were replicated for the fair, but The Parthenon is the only one that still stands, made entirely of concrete.

I don't know if "full scale replica" means that it's exactly the same size, but the thing is pretty big. It functions as an art museum now, but Gaspar and I didn't have the time or the money to go inside. However, thanks to Gaspar eye, I did take a pretty picture:

The Parthenon is smack in the middle of The Centennial Park, which was holding a flea market type thing. We stopped there long enough to have some sweet, sweet lemonade

and to meet "Princess, [who] loves to ride."

This did not quell our desire to sightsee, and so we made our next stop de place de rigueur when in Nashville: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 

Mind you, we didn't have the stomach (or the money) to see the whole thing. Instead we stopped by a free Banjo Demonstration by Blake Williams who is apparently a big name in the Banjo world - or rather someone who's played with lots of big names. A bit of his prowess: 

Although it was pretty impressive and fun to hear him play, he spent most of his time talking about the people he's played with and what they had written and how awesome they were, and so Gaspar and I were ready to depart about 30 minutes in. 

After all the sightseeing we were ready to have some food, and had several recommendations from a friend of Gaspar's. However, we were determined to have some BBQ - after all, Tennessee is in the South, right? Isn't the South supposed to be chock full of good BBQ everywhere? Well, after several yelp and urbanspoon searches, we decided on having a bite to eat at Jack's. Although it was a chain, we decided it sounded local enough to have been just a good restaurant that did well. We had high hopes, since we got to see a nice little piggy with wings as their drive thru image.

Once in at Jack's, you go over the counter and ask for your heart's content. I went with their combo plate, which lets you pair up three meats and two sides. I was content with trying their Texas Brisket and Sausage, with turnip greens and mac and cheese. Pair that with cornbread, icy water, and a taste of three sauces: Original Tennessee BBQ Sauce, (Tangy Vinegar based), Texas Sweet Hot BBQ Sauce (Tomato based), and Kansas City BBQ Sauce (Sweet and Smoky.) 

I'll say this: Nashville doesn't show up on the list of places known for BBQ because... it's not known for BBQ. We should've accepted that and gone with the local flavors. What is there to say? The greens were too sweet, the mac and cheese was powdery, the sausage was sweet and passably okay, and the brisket was a shame, specially compared with the still deliciously in my memory North Carolina Brisket I had in August. Let us not talk of the corn bread. 

We ate our food because we paid for it, but neither Gaspar nor I were really happy with it, which was highly disappointing. Afterwards, we got on the road to Murfreesboro, not really excited after that bad encounter with what should've been really good. It was hard to try to remember that until then Nashville had been fun, but we tried our best. 

Comedy of Errors

So we decided to head to Philadelphia for a weekend getaway - leave Saturday, return Sunday. Simple, right? No, it isn't when you're me! Because I can get you lost inside a ten foot square area. It's a gift, and I shall embrace it as such!

Our weekend began with my reserved car not being available - screw you dollar rent-a-car! - but thankfully we fixed that rather quickly and left for Philly in a beautifuly sunny day. We hit some traffic when we hit I-95 but thankfully mi Cariño had me there to entertain her with my inappropriate questions as she drove. That's right, she drove - because she wanted to see me drive in a Parking Lot before she would let me drive. And I refuse to do that! If the State of New York thinks I'm a good driver everyone should think so! In any case I'm scared of driving so it all worked out.

After some scrambling around, switched theaters and some quick walking we made it to what was ostensibly the reason why we were going to Philly - Q Fest! A queer, week long movie fest, that would include the movie "Leading Ladies." We got there just in time to see the theater lights darken! It was perfect.

Wanna know what wasn't perfect? The movie. OMG I can't even list the amount of things that are wrong with this movie. Should I start with the horrible acting? The atrocious dialogue? The uninspiring storyline? The one good thing I can say about the movie is that it was well shot. As in, it looked pretty. So the money they saved on a writer and an acting coach went to their camera and editing budget, I suppose. At one point, the male lead dances with a random guy at a club - that was pretty. He's obviously a good dancer. The female lead? Not so much. For one, everyone kept going on and on about how she was the one that took care of her family and THAT didn't come across once for me. Oh well, moving on.

After the fiasco that Leading Ladies turned out to be, and after some change of mind on my part, we went to Campos to eat some Cheese Steaks.

These were very VERY good - just not life changing. I guess I'm not that big a fan of beef, unless it's fried. But then again, anything fried is good, no?

After the Steaks we crossed the street to Christ Church. It is a beautiful building, has been around since 1695 and the most interesting part is that the church itself serves as a burial ground - as in you're walking down the center aisle and you'll be stepping over 4 or 5 grave markers. We ran into a couple that was taking pictures of each others posing with bibles and what not. Mi Cariño did not, to my disappointment, suggest we did this too. ;-)

We did some more Old City walking and soon enough it was time to find dinner. Enter "Bar Fernando" otherwise known as Bar Ferdinand, a Tapas place. I had a Valenciana

and we shared el Manchego Frito

Croquetas

Organic Sauteed Mushrooms

And I had the Atlantic Cod with Potatoes and a green sauce made out of I don't remember what.

Bar Ferdinand was not very memorable - The croquetas were horrible, and the waitress was forgetful, but the cod and the mushrooms were simply delicious. As was the Valenciana drink.

Sunday we drove around to North 4th Street to Cafe Estelle. What a find! We had to wait 20 minutes to sit, but it was well worth it. Cafe Estelle sits in the ground floor of an apartment building in what looks like a very industrial area. But it held the most awesome pancakes I've EVER eaten. Seriously. Bar None. I mean like REALLY really really really good pancakes.

Mi Cariño had this concoction called "Shirred Eggs" that I was not allowed to eat. Or take pictures of.

Shirred Eggs are baked eggs - these had spinach, mushrooms, truffle oil and cream. I went for a delicious omelette with red and green peppers, red onions,  ham and cheddar, homefries and toast.

Cafe Estelle made this trip worth it, the food was so good. We made it back to the Old City to see "Oy Vey My Son Is Gay."

It was good - it went a little crazy with the storyline there towards the end, but Lainie Kazan and Saul Rubinek made it totally worth it. They were hilarious. Like I am not. We finished the trip by sightseeing. Here's a statue

And so, that was Philly. It wasn't a very organized/structured trip, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. It was certainly worth getting lost every other block and the traffic and what not. Except the Leading Ladies part. That wasn't worth it.

Next up: San Diego, CA!