Blue Ridge Mountains and The Country Music Capital of the World

We get up early this day - at least for our standards - to use the first rays of sunlight to start our trip since we decided to do another detour after the magnificent impressions of the day before. Today, the Blue Ridge Parkway is on our to-do list, and it is awesome again. There is the German saying "Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund", which means something like "morning hours have a mouth full of gold" (sounds funny, but the German word for hour and mouth rhyme...) and this really proves to be true again: The sunlight casts its golden shine on the leaves of the trees, which have already started to change colors. Combined with the sight of the green mountains that are covered with a bluish haze as far as eyes can see, it was a breathtaking view. We would love to go on a hike but due to our tight schedule we have to cut our stay on the Parkway short and head back to the I-81 South to approach Tennessee. From then on it is driving, driving and driving until we reach Nashville. After our arrival we cruise a bit through the streets of the city and like what we see. So, we decide to park the car and take a quick walk through downtown Nashville. At the ticket machine we get a little shock since parking is $8.00 for only one hour, which is quite a bit even for somebody who spent some time in New York City. But then, we think "Well, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance" and dutifully pay the $8.00. By the way, a young couple that arrives after us also stands in front of the ticket machine with an expression of disbelief for quite some time but pays after a little discussion - seems like we are not the only ones taken aback by the horrendous price. While recovering from the slight shock we walk down to the tourist attraction number one: A street where they sell cowboy hats, boots and play country music in every shop so that you hear a strange mixture of at least 10 songs at the same time. It is quite interesting to see but very touristic and quite a stimulus satiation, so we are not too sad when our time is up and we have to hurry back to the car to reach our final destination for that day: Memphis, TN.