Stella May I

Starting day two with a bang! Pancakes at Pancake Pantry. I couldn't decide between two. So I split my order between the Old Fashion Buttermilk and Santa Fe Cornmeal Pancakes. These were the best buttermilk pancakes I have ever had. They were fluffy but with a close texture. And I am not usually a butterer of pancakes and waffles, but Pancake Pantry has whipped butter and it was a tasty, savory butter. Delish! The cornmeal pancakes was full of bacon, cheddar cheese, and roasted green chilies, all topped with salsa, sour cream and that whipped butter. Also delish! Both of these pancakes are served with some warmed maple syrup. Don't be put off by the line out the door. It was well worth it.

Across the street from Pancake Pantry, is BookManBookWoman. This bookstore is so packed with books! Above is a selection of their leather bound ones.

They also have these little alcoves also stuffed with books.

We then headed to nearby Belmont University to see the Belmont Mansion.

My favorite part? The sleepy lions guarding the doors.

How cute is this dog statue? That coffee cup is from Fido. It's a couple of doors down from Pancake Pantry and I thought it would be nice for the road. I got the local latte (local honey and cinnamon), but they have more adventurous flavored coffees: pepperton (peppermint and cayenne pepper), evergreen (balsam fir oil, rosemary, and lime), and fezziwig (milling spice syrup). Maybe next time.

Cute Hot and Cold postcards at Fido. Hot and Cold is also a coffee and dessert place next door. I recommend going there too for some Las Paletas Popsicles.

We then headed to downtown Nashville. Here is the War Memorial.

Right across the street is the capital! I've realized this is the first state capital I have ever visited and who knew that you can just walk in and wander?

Me pretending to be important in the former supreme court room.

President Andrew Jackson.

Former gas lamps now converted to electric.

Cast iron stair case in the lounge. You can also visit inside the House of Representative and Senate rooms! There are also guided tour at the top of the hour.

Also across the street from the War Memorial is the Tennessee State Museum. Occupy three underground floors of the James K. Polk building, the museum cover the entire history of Tennessee. From colonization to today.

Silver cups

We then went a little north to antiquing! Starting with the Antique Archaeology. Converting an old car manufacturing building to retail stores, Antique Archaeology is just one of the "hipster" stores. Its all very neat inside but there wasn't anything that interested us. It was also a smaller store than I thought.

What I was interested in was the Soda Parlor. It's part clothing store, part ice cream float store. It was a good float, just a little on the small side.

We then crossed town to the Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge. Just google "Two Rivers skate park" to find parking on the other side of the highway. There are so many pedestrian bridges in Nashville! John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge right at downtown. We went here after our honky-tonk the day before. There is a good view of the skyline here. It's also known as the Shelby Street one.

Better yet ride you bike across (or rent one!) and have a nice ride around the park

We ended day two at Monell's. This is the one in the Germantown neighborhood. The restaurant is family style. They have large 10-15 persons table and we were seated at this large table by ourselves. We were waiting 15 minutes at our table before others joined our table. It was a little awkward eating family style portions but we just ate very leisurely. My favorite dishes were the coleslaw, peach preserves, corn pudding, baked chicken and banana pudding.

We were thinking about going to a listening cafe after but decided to call it a night.

links: Pancake Pantry Fido War Memorial Capital State Museum Antique Archaeology Soda Parlor Monell's

Of course you may! After packing up all the pets, we hit the road. I find driving through the east side of the country so full of greenery and excitement. It's probably because I grew up basically in a desert and when we did drive out all we would see is flat, plain land.

And we cross over rivers!

Once we got to Murfreesboro we were a starving. And although we were almost there to Nashville we just had to stop at White Castle. This is Mister's first White Castle. I believe this is also the closest one to Atlanta.

Once we got to the city, we quickly checked in and settled all the pets. Oswald found his way under the bed and Popcorn just slept through the entire journey. Valentine was probably trying to adjust to the water movements. First thing we wanted to check out? Nashville's famous hot chicken. I was contemplating a lot of different options (Prince's, Bolton's, PepperHot, 400 degrees, Big Shake's, Helen's). I ended up choosing Hattie B's since it was consistently rated well and they were open at that time. I got the small dark which includes the thigh and leg. If you gotten the large you can split your spiciness levels, but since the smalls come attached to each other I could only have once spicy level. Neither me or Mister went for the "Shut the Cluck Up" heat level, but that is definitely on our list the next time we rolled around. One tip I read was to have the bread last. That way it will soak up all the chicken juices and really flavor up the bread.

Afterwards we stopped by the Parthenon. This was actually what inspired us to come to Nashville for a little city break. I'm holding on to a Hattie B's cup filled with sweet tea.

Unfortunately the museum part of the Parthenon was closed so we just explored the Bicentenniel park. Look how pretty the ceiling looked.

There are small bridges,

cute swings and a flower garden.

We watched the sunset behind the Parthenon.

Then we drove down Broadway to the honky tonks!

Passing by the famous Ryman Auditorium. We aren't big into country music so we didn't visit the Ryman, but I read you can take pictures of you on stage and even record some music!

Since it was a Tuesday, there aren't very big crowds at the honky-tonks. That just means we got some real good seats and pretty fast service! Although we were pretty full, I was dead set on Mister having a fried bologna sandwich. We were to Robert's Western World and got their "recession special." It includes a fried bologna sandwich, bag of chips, and a can of PBR for 5 bucks! All in all it was nice to hear live music and experience a honky-tonk. Robert's is also known for their Brazilbilly, which we unfortunately didn't get to experience. But I have read fun things about the music. How can you not like a Brazilian and hillbilly combo?

The wall of cowboy boots at Robert's

Post honky-tonk cowboy boot shopping. There were so many stores that open late and they have so many! Yes, that is a mini cowboy hat on top of my head.