Nashville-Day 2

We had three events scheduled for Friday: a tour, a visit to the farmers market, and a show at the Opry

Our walking tour started at 9:00am. I found this tour online and even though I wasn’t sure about it, it had great reviews. Nashville Underground Donut Tour. Really, who walks around downtown Nashville looking for donut shops? Well, we did and we had a great time. It started at Parlor Donuts and would go to three other shops. At each stop, the guides (who, were by the way, great) would tell you about the shop and do the “donut reveal”. You then got to sample each type then move on to the next shop. While you were walking, the guides would tell you stories about Nashville landmarks or places of interest. By the time we were done, we were on a sugar high and loving every minute. I think if you were trying to find these shops, it would be a challenge. A couple were so hidden you could drive right by them and never know they were there.

*Meeting place and first stop was Parlor Doughnuts. Oh my goodness!*

*The second stop was Rise. If you were just passing by, you could miss this place.*

*They served biscuit type donuts along with chicken and biscuits and lunch. Starting to feel the sugar.*

*D’Andrews was the classiest. Great coffee, Deli sandwiches at lunch. We had a vanilla bean filled donut that was decadent. So much so, we forgot to get a picture.*

*The last stop was in the Assembly Food Hall food court. Donut Distillery. Small cake donuts that a few, yes, had bourbon baked in.*

We highly recommend this tour. We’ll make a special effort to go back to each one of these shops on future visits.

Since we were at a food court with what seemed like a hundred places, we chose Velvet Taco. The shrimp and the salmon tacos tasted great and hit the spot. We headed back to the hotel then after lunch, we drove to the Nashville Farmers Market. We were a little late for the fresh produce. The weather may have kept many customer and vendors away plus it was 2:00 in the afternoon on a Friday. However, the main area was still busy. There were shops, food stands and yes, coffee shops. We tried Farm*City Coffee and enjoyed a performance by a young singer, Illiana Viramontes. According to her bio she was a contestant on “The Voice”. She was actually pretty good. We finished our coffee and headed back to the hotel.

We thought it best to head out the Grand Ole Opry early and get something to eat avoiding the rush. The Gaylord Opryland Resort is huge and has quite a few restaurants. We chose Jack Daniels and enjoyed shrimp and brisket cobb salads. The service was excellent.

We walked around the inside hotel after our meal and I think we got lost but we finally headed to the Opry. Darius Rucker was the starring attraction but we were introduced to a first-time-at-the-opry performer named Sean Dietrich. When he took the stage, he was met with a huge standing ovation. Clearly we were behind the curve on who this guy was. Turns out he has a huge following of his shows, his writing and his podcasts. The best way to describe Sean of the South, as he calls himself, is a cross between Garrison Keeler, Tom Bodet with a bit of Ray Stevens. He sang, played piano and guitar, then told a story. Definitely worth a listen.