We arrived in Nashville at midnight on the first day of our cross country road trip because we had a very late start. That night we got to our Air BnB and immediately passed out because of how ridiculously tired we were after my time at senior week, and Sabrina’s week of finals. The next morning we woke up bright & early because we were scared we wouldn’t have enough time to get around the city, so we got right to it.
First things first, we made our way into the Belmont area where I can safely say that I had the best bagel of my entire life at Proper Bagel. I had the rosemary garlic cream cheese & egg breakfast sandwich on a salt bagel and Sabrina had the gouda & egg breakfast sandwich on an egg bagel. Proper Bagel is in an old home turned restaurant, and it had the best vibes ever. Not to mention, the most impressive display of insanely yummy looking cream cheese’s that I have ever seen in my life.
From there, we wandered into Downtown where we parked our car and walked across the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, then down Broadway where we got to see a lot of the honky tonks. This was very different from the neighborhoods we had been in earlier that day, so it was cool to see a newer side of the city compared to the older parts. After all the driving we had done the day before, it felt good to stretch our legs and get to walk around.
After that, we drove to what is known as 12 South, which is a street with adorable boutiques, great restaurants, and just a super cool and relaxed atmosphere. The vintage stores were our favorite part of the street because the things in them were totally unlike anything we had seen before. It was so cool to sift through bits and pieces of old Nashville history.
Also on 12 South is Five Daughter’s Bakery. I had heard a lot about it, so I forced Sabrina to go in. We shared a Maple Glaze 100 Layer Doughnut which was unlike anything I had ever tried before. The nice lady working at the counter explained it to us as a crossover between a croissant and a doughnut filled with creme. We were not disappointed. I’m not super big into doughnuts and I loved this one, so that should count for something.
After wandering around 12 South, the exhaustion from the night before started to kick in. We drove through East Nashville and then up to Lover’s Circle where we tried to get a good view of the city, but in the delusional state that we were in, we just stayed in the car and sang to the radio while we enjoyed the view. This was around 3:30 p.m. and we knew that we wouldn’t last long without a coffee or a nap, so we decided to drive to the replica of the Parthenon to sit on the steps in some sunshine while we chatted to kill some time until it was an acceptable time to eat dinner, haha.
For dinner we knew we wanted good, Southern, barbecue. Like many things that we ended up doing in Nashville, going to Edley’s BBQ was a suggestion from my good friend Lilly. Lilly couldn’t have picked a better spot. Not only was Edley’s insanely fast, but hands down served one of the best racks of ribs I’ve ever eaten. It very seriously put me into one of the deepest food coma’s of my life, but so worth it.
After a quick nap back at the Air BnB after dinner because we could not keep our eyes open for another minute, we ended our day in Nashville with ice cream from Jeni’s. The line was out the door, and for good reason. It was the perfect way to end a scorching hot summer day in Nashville!
I absolutely loved the time that I got to explore such a cool and so widely praised city. I can’t wait to come back and spend a couple more days to get a really good feel on what Nashville is all about.
Alexandra Mier y Terán 