Dollywood and Christmsas

 

A trip to Gatlinburg isn't complete without a stop at Dollywood. They go all out for Christmas and are open until later in the evening to give you a chance to see all the Christmas lights. The park really got crowded around 4pm as people came in for the lights.

The shops are wonderful and fun, and all dressed up for the holidays. The rides are still up and running, and the shows are all Christmas themed. They even had a few holiday style desserts. We got a few souvenirs and sweet treats and enjoyed walking around in the lights. There is always some kind of festival going on here all year long. It's a fun place.

Gatlinburg in December

Since this was our last trip for a while to Gatlinburg, we did all our usual stops. Went to our favorite shops, made our favorites drives through the mountains, and we even got to see some wildlife. This is such a beautiful part of the world. It was cold, but there was no snow yet. We did see a lot of the streams that trickly down the mountain were frozen into icicles.

We have now seen this are of the world through all the seasons. There were some things we couldn't do because roads were closed due to the winter season. We also didn't do too much hiking the brazen cold either. But I must say my favorite time of year to see this area is the spring. It's rainy, and muggy, but so beautiful with everything in bloom.

Such a wonderful place. 

Nashville and the Parthenon

The week before Christmas we decided to make once last trip to Tennessee to the Smoky Mountains. This was our last trip there. We've been there a lot, seen it in all seasons, but now it was time to move on.

On the way there we tend to split up the drive into 2 days. But this trip I decided we had to stop in Nashville. 

I saw something on television that showed Nashville had the only life size exact replica of the Parthenon that used to stand in Athens Greece. Such a random thing to have in Nashville.

I further discovered that Nashville considers themselves the Athens of the South (who knew?) and as a result they built a life size replica. From what I've read, the reconstruction and details is about as accurate as one could get, and it is the only one in the world. I've been to Athens and seen the ruins, so I HAD to see the replica in Nashville. It was quite something.

You do have to pay to get inside, but the bottom level has a nice little art gallery, as well as souvenir shop, and then you go upstairs to see the giant Athena statue. It was definitely something.

We also made a stop at the Convention Center as they had a big resort next to it. We had some time to kill before the Parthenon opened, so we wandered through. They had a lot of Christmas shops and events going on outside, but the inside of the resort was also pretty spectacular. I can see why people would want to stay there.

Hampton Court Palace

Our last Day in England we went out to Hampton Court Palace. This is where King Henry VIII famously lived with all his wives at one point.

It is a beautiful place, situated right by the beautiful rive Thames in a small little town. We spent most of the day wondering the palace and grounds which are pretty spectacular. And then we wondered the small city stores. Such a pretty area of the world to see. I had been here before, but because of the weather I never got to explore the grounds. This time we got to see the gardens. It was a lovely way to spend our last day in England. And below is the picture dump of all we saw.

Playing in London

The day after the funeral for the queen the city was still pretty hectic. Barriers were still being taken down, and a lot of roads were still blocked off. We did a bit more wandering of the city and really just enjoyed the beautiful weather.

We made it to Covent Gardens, a hipster style shopping district. It was fun to wander around and window shop. Also, there was an amazing opera singer performing around the area as well. It was beautiful. There were tons of people, but we did stop for some amazing Vietnamese Street food. My city is absolutely missing this.

We wondered through Hyde Park, stopped at the Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square (one of my favorites), then saw the Vitoria and Albert Museum as well as the Science Museum. We went back to Westminster Abby and Big Ben to see them with all the barriers removed. 

We ended our day back at the amazing Italian place we loved on a previous night.

I believe we walked another 11 miles this day too.