WALKING IN NASHVILLE (Cheri)

What a cool picture - but still not the highlight of my day here in Nashville!

That's because the highlight of my day was having brunch with my Alex and her boyfriend Andrew . . . and I forgot to get a picture!

We came to Nashville to see Alex and Andrew, see some history and art, and meander the area.  We started with brunch at the Frothy Monkey, in the Nations neighborhood where she lives.  The mural you see above looms over the neighborhood, which is a network of residences growing over old industrial spaces.

It's funny how much context affects your perception of something.  Here's another view of the silo taken at the edge of the neighborhood, probably from a drone:

(Image Credit:  https://6amcity.com/tn/nashville/history/
origins-the-nations-silo-mural-nashville-tn)

Some people said they thought the subject of the mural was President Jimmy Carter; I thought it resembled the Young family friend "Doc" Dunbar.  In truth, he was "just" a local with a warm spirit:

(Image Credit:  https://www.wkrn.com/news/91-year-old
-nashville-native-now-depicted-on-silo-in-the-nations/)

There's a nice article about the project here, and lovely testimonials about the subject at this Facebook page, after he died at 100 years old.

Mr. Estes isn't actually the only subject though, as another side depicts two younger residents of the area:

I chose a place downtown - actually just a block from the Tennessee Supreme Court and Legislature - to stay, because I want to go to an exhibit at the nearby Tennessee History Museum.  It turns out that it was built as a YWCA, but I'll show more pictures of the building later.

We took an early evening walk, and one of the buildings was the Fred D. Thompson Federal Courthouse, which I think is particularly attractive:

Unless you are a Tennessean, you probably remember Fred Thompson not so much for being an attorney, Senator, or even Presidential candidate, but for playing a district attorney on NBC's Law and Order:

(Image Credit:  Will Hart/NBC)

I was admiring the signage on this nice Art Deco building:

when the next-door mural caught my eye:

Wow!  How did they end up with a Norman Rockwell's Barbershop Quartet on their building as a mural?  It turns out it is the headquarters of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

We saw this location-adapted Nashville Fire Department vehicle on the street:

and a sign memorializing a twist on the history of gay bars and police enforcement.

Finally, Mark and I took several pictures of some advertising for an old downtown restaurant: