Nashville report

I'm pretty sure Greyhound's practices violate the terms of the Geneva Conventions. I knew the overnight bus wouldn't be a hoot, but I thought if I picked the bus route with no transfers, it wouldn't be too bad. How wrong I was. Every couple of hours, when we stopped in a major city, they MADE everyone get off the bus for about an hour, and sit inside the uncomfortable, well-lit station while they cleaned the bus. Seriously, how clean does this thing have to be? I don't need to pee or smoke! Can't I sit out here in the dark? Blurg. And the Louisville station, though it had larger, cleaner bathrooms than the Indianapolis station, had barely any seating. What's that all about?

After a nap, some tea with the woman who works at Music City Hostel, and a shower, I felt much better. The place has a homey feel, like you're just hanging out in someone's dining room or living room, chatting with whoever happens by. I sat outside in the sun for a while, and one of the guests played his guitar and sang. In the evening, I got tired of hanging around, and left way too early for the show I wanted to see, so I had to kill some time and beers in a random sports bar. Meh. When I finally went to the show, I was the ONLY person there. It turns out the show I had planned to see was cancelled, and there was some lame free show happening that no one went to. Darn. I tried to chat up the oddball proprietor, but he made it a chore, so I spent a while outside chatting with the bouncer. Nothing else was happening in town that night drew my interest, so I ended up giving up and going back to the hostel early. I was tired, but I ended up staying up super late anyway, talking to a couple of hostel folk.

I spent all day Saturday urban hiking with another girl from the hostel. We went to the Frist Center for Visual Arts, where we saw a really fantastic collection of oil paintings of people. The styles were all over the place, so it was quite intriguing. After that we wandered around the city looking at apartments, because my companion is in the process of moving to the city, and I had nothing better to do than wander around seeing different neighborhoods and getting a bit of a sunburn. After a shower and food, we went to the same place I had attempted to go the night before, but this time the scheduled show was actually happening. The nice bouncer let us in for free, and we ended up passing much of the night chatting with him and whoever else passed through the door. The music was okay, but not really holding my interest like the people show that was happening in the outside smoking area. It was a really varied crowd, from hippies to everyday normal guys to frat guys to tattooed freaks to some guy in super tight clothes and a fantastic gold jacket. It was an 18+ show, so there were all kinds of shenanigans involving underage drinking and girls passing out on the men's room floor.

The first act was a "DJ" who was just up there with a laptop, pushing buttons and dancing. It was confusing. Was he actually doing anything? He could have just popped in a CD. The other acts had multiple members and instruments, but, as previously stated, seemed more like background music for the real show that was happening all around. At least it was worth the money I paid to get in. I would have still been happy if I had paid the five dollar cover.

On Sunday, a kindly local squired me about town to see the view from Love Circle, a park on a hill that overlooks the city. The view was so good I forgot to take a picture. We checked out the Cheekwood Botanical garden and sculpture park, and saw a dragon in a park.

On Monday my stepmum and her friend (the one with all of the animals) came up to Nashville to get me and her friend's son. We had some wacky adventures involving crossing the tracks to a squatter camp, copper wiring, and Mexican food, then we headed back to Huntsville.