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<\/a><\/p>\nFortunately for us, the current Exhibition, Farm to Table: Art, Food and Identity in the Age of Impressionism<\/strong><\/a> was ongoing.\u00a0 We love our Impressionist paintings!\u00a0 First up was our favorite Impressionist artist Claude Monet\u00a0 with a painting that we had yet to see, this one called “The Haystack”, from 1891.\u00a0 Monet created more than 20 paintings of haystacks.\u00a0 If somebody was going to paint a haystack, it might as well have been him!<\/p>\n I found this next painting to be quite interesting due to the subject matter.\u00a0 This is Narcisse Chaillou’s “A Rat Seller During the Siege of Paris” painted in 1870-1871.\u00a0 The rat seller, dressed in the blue, white and red of France’s flag, the young butcher represents French culinary nationalism during the food shortages of the Prussian siege.\u00a0 The French are apparently quite proud of eating rats, which explains that whole “escargot” thing!<\/p>\n The next painting is by the famous Pierre-Auguste Renoir called “Field of Banana Trees” from 1881.\u00a0 This depiction of Algerian banana trees focuses on a plant that could not be cultivated in France, evoking the economic drive that was central to European imperialism.\u00a0 The setting for the painting was a garden that had been built by France in Hamma, Algeria, which was created to test models for colonial farming.<\/p>\n Another exhibit at the museum was based on Japanese art, but it was mostly focused on kids.\u00a0 We did see one piece of artwork that we have seen previously.\u00a0 This is by Katsushika Hokusai, called “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, depicting three boats amongst the waves with Mount Fuji, Japan’s tallest mountain, in the background.\u00a0 This has been described as possibly the most reproduced image in art.\u00a0 The artwork was originally produced as a woodblock print, hence it’s easy reproduction.<\/p>\n After spending about two hours at the museum it was time for a beer, so we headed to see more honkey-tonks.\u00a0 We walked into two that were simply jam packed with people and then finally found the rooftop bar at The Stage, with a pretty decent band.\u00a0 We requested Drunk on a Plane<\/strong><\/a> by Dierks Bentley, and they performed a passable version.\u00a0 For the official music video, click on the link above.\u00a0 It’s one of our favorites!<\/p>\n Before heading to dinner we made our second stop at Ole Red, as the rooftop bar here seems to have the best setting with the best music that we have discovered so far.<\/p>\n We spent about an hour listening to Kelly and Sarah, who were excellent.\u00a0 Their harmonies were exquisite.\u00a0 Looking back on it I should have asked if they could have performed a Wilson Phillips song.\u00a0 I highly recommend this spot!<\/p>\n On the way out I got a photo of Kim with the owner, country star Blake Shelton!\u00a0 Despite the enthusiastic pointing he seemed a little wooden.<\/p>\n On our 3rd day in Nashville we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum<\/a><\/strong>, which is right in the center of Nashville.<\/p>\n After checking in they send you on the elevator to the 3rd floor, and you make your way through the top two floors.\u00a0 It’s set up as a linear history of country music, with tributes to the biggest stars during their time periods.\u00a0 You get a feel for how big the place is just off the elevator.<\/p>\n They have historic instruments from the early days of country, like this 1850 Martin guitar.\u00a0 The coffin-shaped case was designed to protect the instrument during travel by stagecoach.<\/p>\n This banjo from the 1860’s was used for performances in minstrel shows.\u00a0 Country music with guitars and banjos had some of their first audiences during traveling medicine shows, for “medicine” like Cherokee Chief (in the bottle on the left).<\/p>\n This is a photo of an actual medicine show for “Flagg’s Liver Pad”, whatever the hell that is, in Wilmington, NC in 1870.\u00a0 They would play music to get people to gather around, and it worked as most of these people had never heard professional entertainment.<\/p>\n We’ll skip ahead here before I bore everybody to tears.\u00a0 Here is look inside Elvis’ famous 1960 Cadillac, that was decked out with gold plated wheels, handles, knobs, a even a gold plated telephone (before cell service, just for looks?).\u00a0 Not sure how good the reception would have been on that TV back in the day.<\/p>\n There was an excellent video montage on the 3rd floor before you head downstairs.\u00a0 The linear part of the museum becomes lost on the 2nd floor, which is mostly there to give tribute to the stars of the 70’s (Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, etc.), as well as more modern stars up to today.\u00a0 I was surprised to see they had the original Mechanical Bull from Urban Cowboy!<\/p>\n We are huge John Denver fans, and this is the only display for him.\u00a0 He wore this outfit to the American Music Awards in 1976, where he won 3 awards.\u00a0 The Yamaha guitar was custom made for John.<\/p>\n One of our favorite country artists, who we mentioned previously, is Dierks Bentley.\u00a0 The pilot outfit in this display is from his performance in “Drunk on a Plane”, also mentioned previously.\u00a0 I love it when a blog post connects with itself!<\/p>\n This guitar belonged to another of our favorite country artists, Toby Keith, who we unfortunately lost just over a year ago.\u00a0 He used this guitar in his music video for “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”<\/a><\/strong>, a song he wrote and sang in response to the September 11 attacks.\u00a0 Click on the link above for the music video.<\/p>\n Across the street from the museum is the Walk of Fame Park, that had numerous plaques for musicians of various types, not just country.\u00a0 Here is one for a musician we’ve seen multiple times, Michael McDonald.\u00a0 What a voice!<\/p>\n We spent that afternoon in John Rich’s honky-tonk, the Redneck Riviera.\u00a0 John pays tribute to the military members and First Responders by splashing their badges all over the walls of his establishment.\u00a0 It felt like home!<\/p>\n The band, “Ponder This”, was excellent and a whole lot of fun!!\u00a0 The place was filled with ex-military and Firemen\/Policemen.\u00a0 My kind of place!<\/p>\n On the walk back to our hotel I got a better shot of what is known locally as “The Batman Building”.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n