Nashville or Bust... (I'd like the bust, but I got Nashville... Good trade, I think)

We made it to Nashville on Friday, where we met Mr. Right's sister. She took us out for the most wonderful meal at Maggiani's Little Italy, an Italian eatery where you are given enough food on one plate to feed four people... I'm not kidding. The food was authentic and exquisite, yet the ambiance was unpretentious and homey. It was a wonderful night where we ended at the replica of the Parthenon, which was closed for indoor viewing. BUT (and I have a big one) my sis-in-awe noticed that there were several people coming in and out of the underground museum, so she asked a passerby and he said it was an art show and for us to join the merriment. I'm so glad we did - for the artist John Hung Ha had the most beautiful artwork on exhibit. Too bad I didn't have a spare $30,000 for his huge wall-sized multimedia painting of koi. I could look at that one for days... Instead we were able to shake his hand. I left and let the two art professors (Mr. Right and my sis-in-awe) talk with the artist. I just like looking at the pretty pictures...

This morning we went to the Hermitage, the home of our 7th President Andrew Jackson. That was such interesting and educational attraction. We were able to tour the plantation, see the slavey housing, ride the horse-drawn wagon (where I got to ride shotgun because they overbooked the ride... bonus!) and spend some time in the beautiful outdoors under the shade of many trees.

(We forgot our camera for these events, but we had our camera phone. If I can download the pics to the blog, I'll post those as well.)

We stopped to look at the dam in Nashville. Mr. Right and I want to hire a boat to go visit those islands in the middle of the water...

This guy cracked us up!

When we arrived in Sevierville (pronouned severe-ville), I asked the B&B owner where he would go to eat if he had the night off. He highly recommended Taulbee's. It is a family-owned, hidden restaurant that most of the locals attend because it is delicious and unknown to the tourists. Man, oh man, was it good! Mr. Right and I split a meal of Steak Marsala with baked asparagus and roasted beets. The beets were delicious with a little kick and the rest was a perfect compliment to the beets. I highly recommend that if you're ever in the area, you need to seek out this little treasure and enjoy it for yourself!

Here's the standard cheesy pose. Hey, you'll be seeing lots of this one since we're on our anniversary trip.

That's the first day. I hope to have some pictures of where we're staying for tomorrow... after our 2-hour horseback riding trip of course. It's good to be kidless and free!