Back to Nashville and a fantastic way to finish off the trip on a Friday night – even though another 300 mile drive lay ahead of me and I was somehow starting my way back to Germany on that 18th March 2022, I was looking forward to that day.
Good Morning & Bye-Bye St. Louis
Five hours net driving time and some stuff on the list on the last full day: I did not want to be at my destination again at 20:00 hrs like on Day 7 (in fact the Opry stuff, see below, started at 19:00 hrs). Thus, I went for an early start in St. Louis, also driven by the fact that the OYO St. Louis Downtown does not serve breakfast anyway. I wanted to be on the road at about 6:00 hrs and finally made it some thirty minutes later. There was a bit of rain in the Missouri and Illinois morning. As expected, the 300 miles drive was not really a thrill again.


A Supermuseum in a Super-City
Just doing “Kilometer fressen”, how you may say in German (literally: “munching kilometers”, meaning something like driving on and on and on) for four to five hours is indeed bothering. The more I was glad that I had found an interesting place on the way to St. Louis two days before: Metropolis, Illinois, does not feel to be an interesting place at all at first sight, though.


However, exactly fifty years ago, in 1972, they received the right to be Superman’s official home town. I feel the city could turn this privilege into much more touristic and reputation profit. But the statue in front of the city hall is quite cool, ain’t it? More than that, they host the Super Museum (it is really called that way), which is a massive collection of Superman memorabilia as well as an impressive gift shop. If you like superheroes, Metropolis should be on your bucket list.





The city has some more Superman-inspired spots. The most remarkable nowadays is the Lois Lane statue, not too far away from the museum. A bit further away is the Kryptonite memorial. It is located in front of a former Hollywood museum, which looks like having been quite cool, but is nowadays rather a ruin. Even the local police logo comes with Superman, by the way.






Music Valley Attractions
A petrol station pizza and some other unhealthy snacks later (or: two hours after leaving Metropolis), I finally arrived back in Nashville. This time, I did not head into the city (which was also a good idea as there was quite a traffic jam city-bound), but headed for the Northern Nashville key attraction spots, Opryland and Music Valley. Music Valley hosts two places I visited. First of all, I went to the Willie Nelson Museum (which is in the rear of a Nashville souvenir store). A quite neat place, which is featuring memorabilia of several artists – and, of course, the big Mr Willie himself.






A very popular place in Music Valley is right next door: the Cooter’s Place Nashville is following the “museum and souvenir shopping” approach as well (you can also take pictures in their cars for a charge), honoring the The Dukes of Hazzard TV series. Really entertaining place. The Music Valley also hosts some restaurants, a bunch of hotels and some live music stages.



Shopping and Gaming in Northern Nashville
I had a short visit to Opry Mills, the key outlet shopping opportunity in Nashville. Finally, I just ended up having a bite at their food court – and having a bit of fun at the (rather small and crowded) Dave & Buster’s. There are multiple other ways to entertain yourself (or: spending a f’ck of money), e.g. a Madame Tussauds branch, an underwater restaurant, a cinema or a Rainforest Cafe. Until May, they also have an interlockable building bricks exhibition supported by the Danish market lead. If you have never been to one, you should definitely have a look into the outdoor stuff temple, the Bass Pro Shop.







The Cheapest Hotel of the Trip
It happened that the two most budget-friendly stays of my trip were right at the end of my schedule. Eager to pay almost double the money at the area’s Hilton alternatives, I went for a 95 USD stay at the Comfort Inn Nashville – Opryland area. At least, the pre-sleep experience was really cool. A nice location right next to the highway and an adventure golf place. I had a rather large and quiet room (okay, there was some high intensity physical affection by the couple next door later… A typical thing happening when I want to concentrate while working…).


A very special personal debut
I have been to the Opry tour before, but in fact this trip ended with a country music highlight: my very first show at the Grand Ole Opry, the temple of country music. Apart from one artist, I really enjoyed the lineup much more than I initially thought. Mark Wills opened the show. He was also the artist featured in The Circle Room, which is the pre-show and intermission VIP experience I additionally booked. I also went for the post-show Backstage Tour, which was maybe a bit too much for this day to me. By the way, I completely forgot that I had first row tickets for this special evening – so there will be a separate show posting soon.







Pittsburgh Penguins March 2022 – Day By Day
Here is the overview of my Trip Report:
- Pittsburgh Penguins March 2022 – Overview Posting
- Day 1, 10.3.2022 – About Mobile Networks and Sparky The Dragon
- Day 2, 11.3.2022 – Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has just left the Building
- Day 3, 12.3.2022 – White Pittsburgh and Ketchup
- Day 4, 13.3.2022 – No Flight, but the second Victory
- Day 5, 14.3.2022 – Back To Music City
- Day 6, 15.3.2022 – No Victory on the Road, but still a Good Day
- Day 7, 16.3.2022 – 300 Miles and a really Cool Flight
- Day 8, 17.3.2022 – In Rust We Trust – a 3-1 victorious trip
- Day 9, 18.3.2022 – The Home of Superman and The Heart of Country Music
- Day 10/11, 19./20.3.2022 – The Final F(l)ights
Postings about Nashville
Here are all reviews and more about and around Music City:
Even though there is the new Grand Ole Opry building (which I, for example, visited on 18 March 2022), the ...
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While I typically prefer Hilton Hotels, I had the last night of my March 2022 trip with the Pittsburgh Penguins ...
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Even though Patsy Cline died at the age of 30, she is still regarded to be one of the most ...
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Johnny Cash - do I really need to say anything about this living country music legend? Cash is having its ...
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For country music lovers, a visit to Nashville just does not feel complete without watching a show at the legendary ...
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Apart from visiting Pittsburgh itself, seeing a match at the Bridgestone Arena was likely the highlight of my Pittsburgh Penguins ...
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Even though the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard just has been aired in the United States between 1979 and 1985, ...
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A museum about Law and Justice sounds not really like the most thrilling place out there. However, during the sixth ...
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As central as it gets: not only during the CMA Fest week, the Hilton Nashville Downtown offers a perfect location ...
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I did do the Opry Backstage Tour before, but ninth day of my Pittsburgh Penguins trip in March 2022 also ...
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After Day 9 featured the last real travel highlights including the Opry show, the last entry of any multi-day trip ...
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The longest road trip part of my Penguins March 2022 travel lay ahead of me on the seventh day. Off ...
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No flight this day, but therefor, the match I was likely looking forward to most on this Pittsburgh Penguins March ...
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Music City, Baby! The final airborne transfer within the USA on this Monday. I was so excited to be back ...
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Two years without visiting the United States are about to come to an end: in March 2022, I had planned ...
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Nashville is Music City - not Country Music City. Even though there is a dominating genre, the city attracts many ...
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I am still evaluating whether the Songs Of The Week are an interesting format for you. While the first postings got ...
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Three of the six songs on his debut EP Didn't Go Too Far have already been published - and none of them ...
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A real Nashville release: Mitchell Tenpenny is a Music City native - and since Drunk Me latest, also a rather ...
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It is over two years ago since Chris Young released the first single for his new album. Now, on 6th ...
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I am typically not too much into live album and Greatest Hits compilations. I love to listen to them - ...
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I am not a musician, but I guess releasing a new album is one of these big moment in a ...
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Miley Cyrus is simply a music superstar and talented in multiple genres. Thus, new Miley Cyrus albums are always exciting ...
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In addition to the very personal new Songs of My Life category, I feel like having a bit more blogging contents on ...
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It's been quite a short-term: just three days before the release of their fifth studio album Tabasco and Sweet Tea, ...
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During the last years, October has been one of the big months for European country music fans: being already "traditional" ...
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When Tucker Beathard supported Dierks Bentley during his UK tour in 2016, I ran into the young artist for the ...
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I was originally working on a posting about key challenges that Nashville and the country music industry will face in ...
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I absolutely loved to follow Olivia Lane on social media and listen to her music after I happened to run ...
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Ryan Upchurch is called Upchurch or also Upchurch The Redneck. He is has touched quite a couple of genres through his career. Despite ...
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The Cadillac Three are quite popular in Europe as well as in the USA. Not too surprising, the Nashville trio ...
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During the CMA Fest 2019 in Nashville, I did quite a lot of Meet & Greets. I just felt it ...
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After I made my trip to Nashville, my stay during the CMA Fest 2019 was the Hampton Inn Nashville-Airport. I ...
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The beginning of June was a very flattering moment to me. After I got more and more into country music ...
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CMA Fest 2019 was just massive to me. So many artists, so many new people - I was just overwhelmed! ...
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Facebook, Instagram and all other kinds of internet sources nowadays allow you to (sometimes by chance) find, follow and support ...
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The closer CMA Fest 2019 came, the more I became aware of all the side events, which are not happening ...
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Getting more and more into country music, I more and more love songwriters rounds. Several singers or songwriters are on ...
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The final day of my trip report to Nashville. The tour is coming to an end, the next days, I ...
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Already months ahead, I was looking forward to visiting the CMA Fest in Nashville. Not just that I fell in ...
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Musical History
These are all articles, in which I dealt with events and places influencing musical history:
Even though there is the new Grand Ole Opry building (which I, for example, visited on 18 March 2022), the ...
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flycOn the second day of my Weird Al Yankovic tour-chasing trip in April 2022, I was gifted to visit a ...
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Even though Patsy Cline died at the age of 30, she is still regarded to be one of the most ...
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Johnny Cash - do I really need to say anything about this living country music legend? Cash is having its ...
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Iceland is indeed a country, which is famous for its broad music culture. There are several Icelandic acts, which became ...
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Without a doubt, the Scala in Milan is one of the most famous opera houses in the world. While I ...
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The Austrian band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (hard to translate without spoiling it, it is an ironic wordplay with Versicherung = ...
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What do Icelandic people do if there is a public toilet in the heart of their capital, which they don't ...
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Without a doubt, Luciano Pavarotti is one of the biggest music legends in recent history. The Italian is regarded to ...
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Undoubtedly, Munich Olympic Tower is one of the iconic buildings of the Bavarian city. Even though the tower is located ...
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Gronau in the Münsterland region in Western Germany calls itself the "Music City". The some 50,000 inhabitant town is definitely not the ...
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Venice is not only the city of vaporetto rides, Murano glass and the doges - it also has quite a ...
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Right before I watched the match of my Pittsburgh Penguins at Staples Center vs. the Los Angeles Kings, I strolled ...
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A museum about drums and percussion? Sounds like a perfect visit for a travel(, sports) and music website! Before I ...
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The Memphis Recording Service, Sun Studio or Sun Records (however you like to call it) is one of the most ...
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On my very final stage on the road to the 2019 CMA Fest in Nashville, visiting the West Tennessee Heritage ...
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Memphis and the surrounding area is so full of music history - it is not that surprising that there are ...
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After I dealt with visiting the Graceland Mansion in a separate posting, the second part of my review of Graceland ...
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Even if Elvis was born in Tupelo and there are so many other great musicians (which you can for example ...
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Nashville is the dominating super-city of music in Tennessee, despite there is so much musical history in Memphis as well ...
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Even more than 80 years after Elvis Presley's birth, Tupelo in Mississippi is still dominated by memories of its most ...
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If you drive the US-61 between Tunica, Mississippi, and Memphis, you just cannot miss the iconic wooden building called Gateway To ...
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The final day of my trip report to Nashville. The tour is coming to an end, the next days, I ...
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After driving quite a bunch of miles the two days before, 4th June was planned to be a sightseeing day ...
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3rd June 2019 on my trip to Nashville was "Elvis Presley Day". Waking up less than a mile away from ...
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Oxford is full of amazing collections. Many of them are driven by University institutes. This leads to two key advantages: ...
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What is more characteristic about Liverpool than John, Paul, George and Ringo? It is not too surprising that one of ...
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