Tennessee State Capitol Building & Parks
I needed a reason to take a break on a rainy journey between Missouri and Cleveland Tennessee in April 2014, so with huge storms overhead I decided to stop for a while in Nashville Tennessee and take a look at the State Capitol Building and the two nearby parks, Victory Park and the rather oddly named Bicentennial Mall State Park.
I'm so glad I decided to stop here, spring had arrived in Tennessee and the wonderful pink blooms were reflecting perfectly off the wet marble wall top, with dark clouds overhead it made for a beautiful photo.
I'm so glad I decided to stop here, spring had arrived in Tennessee and the wonderful pink blooms were reflecting perfectly off the wet marble wall top, with dark clouds overhead it made for a beautiful photo.
The Bicentennial Mall park has some interesting memorials including this rotating granite ball (floating on water) Though you can't see it in the shot, I'm under the trees here as it is lashing down with rain.
When the showers pass I am soon out again trying desperately (and successfully) to find a little blue sky to fit into the image, one upside of heavy rain is that it keeps people away from the parks making for less cluttered photos.
The Capitol Building sits at the southern end of the Bicentennial Mall park and can be seen here on the far left of the shot as another heavy storm moves in on the right
Even though the rain is really heavy when it does fall, it only lasts a few minutes at a time and then there is the opportunity to make some nice images using fantastic marble wall as a reflecting surface
Some of the trees have blooms bursting out of their branches and even the main trunk, it really makes a difference today too, the images would have been much less interesting without them.
At the furthest point north in Bicentennial Mall Park are a number of other memorials and a series of towers making a 95-Bell Carillon representing the musical history of the state as well as the 95 Counties of Tennessee.
The blooms continue at this end of the park though I was a little unsettled by a sign suggesting that I "enjoy the park with a friend" and "don't display items of value" being alone and waving a significant lump of camera around would seem to go against both suggestions.
I couldn't resist a zoomed shot from the north end of the park using some of the blooms as a natural frame for the building as yet another storm cloud rushes by.
I love this shot of the Carillon from the very edge of the park looking along the full length of it to the Capitol Building at the southern end of Victory Park.
It's not just the pink blooms that catch the eye as I walk up toward Victory Park, these hawthornes are trying their best to get in on the act with a showy display of pink tinged white blossom
A nice shot of the Capitol Building and amphitheatre and oh look a lovely bunch of train carriages passing right through the middle of the shot....how did I not notice that!!
Not a kid in sight to run the gauntlet of water fountains springing up in front of the memorial in Victory Park, the Tennessee flag still manages to shine even as it hammers down with rain once more and I have to take shelter under a bridge.
The State Capitol Building as viewed from under a bridge in Victory Park, the park actually makes use of the cover and has tables and chairs placed under the bridge, though I suspect they usually seek the space for shade rather than shelter.
One half of the two curved staircases leading up to the Capitol Building from Victory Park, I was about to go up there and get a shot looking back down the parks when it started to pour down again, so I headed back to the bridge for cover again.
As soon as I got another break in the cloud I headed back down the pathway along Bicentennial Mall Park and back to my truck. I'm really pleased that I dropped off the interstate here today, and even more pleased that the weather was so miserable as it kept the crowds at bay and provided some great reflections.