Still in Brentwood, TN

Day Three: Electronic Withdrawal
I didn’t bring my computer on the trip. Or my gameboy. Or my anything remotely electronic and entertaining. I brought my work laptop, but it turns out we don’t need it in class, and we aren’t allowed to use it for personal use. So, rather than crying myself to sleep in the bathtub, I decided to take in some of the sights in Tennessee.

“Country Music, Serious Business.”
First stop, the Country Music Hall of Music and Museum. Learned a lot about Elvis and gobs of other country music stars who I have already forgotten. I don’t mind country music. Some of it is quite listenable. I just never got swept up in the whole cult of personality that surrounds country music stars, much like the cults surrounding movie stars, rock stars and really good sandwiches. I think the highlight of the tour was a car decked out with silver dollars and guns for handles.

“Called GOO by the locals”
We stopped by the Grand Old Opry later, but decided not to take the fifteen dollar tour. Not very interesting to tour an empty building, regardless of how many stars have poured through there… Maybe if it was five bucks instead of fifteen. HOWEVER! The area immediately next to GOO had a shopping mall filled with all kinds of crap, touristy or not. Interesting to look, but I prefer to get my souvenirs at the airport where they cost three times as much.

“And then we ended up in Greece, for some reason.”
Did you know that Nashville has a full-scale version of the Parthenon? Neither did I until today. We tried to visit it, but the entire site was sealed off for a massive wedding. You know you have some kind of money when you get to close off a public park for your own massive parties. Oh well. I didn’t want to see your stupid reproduction of Classical Greek architecture anyway!
On a side note, I believe that the Twin Cities should build a full-scale replica of the Sphinx.

Also, they have a Five Guys Burgers down here. I hope I get to stop there before I leave.