Nashville Parthenon and EIU vs TSU

We weren’t up long before the electricity went out. After checking it became apparent that a large part of the area was, in fact, without electricity. The RV park got noisy pretty quickly with all the generators that were flipped on in the next half hour.

That was a good excuse for us to go to Ken’s favorite breakfast place that we don’t have in Quincy – Waffle House.

That still gave us some tourist time before the game.

Ok, I’ve always been intrigued by Greek mythology. In fact I have a favorite goddess – Nike, goddess of victory.

The most famous status of Nike was in the Parthenon in ancient Greece on the hand of a giant statue of Athena.

Cindy in front on Parthenon

In 1897 as part of their centennial celebration the city of Nashville commission the building of a true-to-size replica of the Greek Parthenon.

Full view Athena, Goddess of Battle

In 2002, they took on the added project of doing the gold gilding of the statues as they were in the original Parthenon.

Cindy in front of Nike

Closeup shot of Nike

Cast of figures that are at top of Parthenon – Nike crowning Athena as she is born fully grown, with her father Zeus to the left.

If you haven't already noticed in previous posts, Ken and I also have a think for Gargoyles. The Parthenon actually depicts the Gargoyles whimsical predecessor the mythical Gryphon.

Sideview of Parthenon…people in picture help give feel for sheer size of this building

This is a really impressive piece of architecture. However, we decided we couldn’t spend too much time since it is next door to Vanderbilt and the area was getting very congested with all the game day activities with the Gators in town.

Modern equivalent of the ‘temple of battle’, LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans and venue for Trevor’s game against Tennessee State

One of the best parts of the TSU game is the band. Half the band and the ‘Sophisticated Ladies’ set up on each side of the field and keep the place rocking. There half-time show was great, a tribute to our President-elect Barack Obama.

I have to admit this time the band was about the only good thing about the game. Eastern played awful, not better way to put it. It seemed like our defense was on the field the entire time. In fact, Trev told us later they had almost 50 % more defensive downs than average. Trevor had a decent game but was still fully frustrated with team play.

It became colder as the afternoon wore on and we were really happy, especially with the game as it was, to get back to the car.

We went downtown to the ‘party section’ of Nashville to have dinner with a couple of the other sets of parents. We had a few drinks at Tootsie’s. While the live music was great, Ken and the dad's were getting a kick out of the 'side shows' . Lots of touchy-feely stuff going on between the girls dancing together, the couple who definitely needed to 'get a room' and the 'Brokeback Mountain boys' at the bar. Looked to be a lot of 'free love' gettin' passed around that night.

After we had our fill of that, we went across the street to Ripsy’s for – guess what --- ribs. This place had something special, a cornmeal pancake, served with butter, in place of serving rolls or bread. Good stuff – I’m going to be looking for a recipe.

Ken was beginning to wear down so as the others decided to enjoy more of the Nashville nightlife we headed back to the RV. We could have had a really good time in this part of Nashville but after a day out in the cold at the football game and Ken's current health struggles, we decided we'd better pack it in for the night.

We were in bed by 9pm!!

Hugs, C