View from my hotel room.
Nashville, TN — 25 Jul 2006
View in my hotel room.
I have been to Nashville several times for business, but had never had the time to visit the capitol. So when I found myself in town again to play in a charity golf tournament (another business trip), I decided to shirk my work duties the next day and finally make the visit. Thanks to my gracious host for indulging my whim.
I didn't have room in my luggage for my film camera, so all these photos were taken with my new digital snapshot camera. Focus and lighting can be a problem. And I suppose I should keep the lens clean. It seems like I always have an excuse for my picture-taking.
This building is certainly not the easiest to get to. If I had it to do again, I'd take a bus or a cab. We must have driven around for 20 or 30 minutes, trying in vain to find visitor parking. There was a garage a block or two away, but we ended up parking illegally at the bottom of the very steep lawn.

This is also the first capitol I've been to so far that had security. A state trooper was on duty, checking people in, sending them through the metal detector, handing out visitor badges.

Near the trooper was the only drinking fountain I saw. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to taking a snap, my batteries had died. It was not the usual inset urinal, but rather more like the bowl you spit in at the dentist's office.
The closest thing to the urinal fountains in this building were all the alcoves filled with busts of famous generals and statesmen. This one is a man named Farragut. I chose him to represent as an homage to my cousin who sometimes shared the name (possibly unbeknownst to her).
Above: A group was having a meeting in the Senate chamber.

Left: No one is in the House of Representatives.

Below: The House fan.
The most beautiful thing in this building is the spiral staircase inside the Legislative Lounge.
This is a weird little reception area where it seems they show films as part of the tour (that I didn't go on). If my camera batteries hadn't died, I would have taken a photo of the Male Suffrage painting on one side and the Women's Suffrage painting on the other.
There is one of these flower beds at each corner of the capitol building.

The lawn is supposedly patterned after the Washington, DC lawn, or so I'm told.

According to the pamphlet, the building exterior was contructed of limestone "excavated, shaped and transported by slaves and convict labor." The interior is, of course, local marble. The architect who designed the structure is entombed in the northeast corner.
After we were done at the capitol, my guide, as it were, took me to the Parthenon, an accurate reconstruction of the Greek building.
Aside from the giant statue of Nike and the giant doors I couldn't manage to capture with my dinky digital, the Parthenon was unfortunately as disappointing as the capitol building.
Next time I'm in Nashville, my sight-seeing will be limited to the Broadway area. That's assuming I will ever be in Nashville again with time to spare.
This way to Texas!
This way to Rhode Island!