DAY 48-50: Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee... the home of Elvis!
Guided tours are expensive but if you do not have a lot of time and you do not have your own set of wheels, then it is worth the money as you don't only get to see stuff, you also hear about the history of a place and if the guide is funny, as our guide David was, then it can be very entertaining too. Not sure if he always meant to be funny but the accent is quite "interesting".
In the morning we toured Memphis, the very busy Beale Street, home of the blues, the Lorraine Motel housing the Martin Luther King Museum, the marching of the ducks at the Peabody Hotel etc.
A young, skinny Elvis at the Tennessee "Wackem" Centre
BB King, also at the "Wackem" Centre
The Egg represents the birth of Rock 'n Roll and The Blues
Sun Studios in Memphis - this is where Elvis started to record.
Today Sun Studios is a memorabilia shop that also sells milkshakes and still records in the basement.
No space in the bag for memorabilia or any other form of curios.... I get ice cream!
Memphis' main industry is health services. We were told how may hospitals there are and how famous they all are but that sort of info goes in one ear, out the other. This specific building is on the premises of St Judes Childrens' Hospital.
The "Dolly Parton" Bridge.... not sure what it is actually called.
Memphis has some beautiful old mansions.
Lunch at the BB King Restaurant on Beale Streat
Pulled BBQ Pork "Sandwich"
The BB King Restaurant has live music
A picture of me taking a picture of a picture of the King of Rock 'n Roll
And then there is a family room which is very bright.
And then the weird starts... This room has a pool table in it. The ceiling is covered in th3e same fabric as the wall to wall, ceiling to floor curtains.
A dust-trap curtain and green carpeting on the ceiling! The kitchen has wall to wall carpeting....???
Outside is beautiful.
Elvis' grave. Sadly there were so many people there.
There is a huge room full of motorbikes and archives full of paperwork and contracts etc.
And a room full of clothing.... including this very famous white ensemble!
There is also a movie theatre showing Elvis movies!
I used my second day in Memphis to find a mall in one of the suburbs. Wanted to send my boys a little something. Well, was that a palaver: first to get to the mall, then to get to a food store (malls here do not have food stores....), then to find a post shop (malls here do not have post shops either, I found on in an industrial area!!) and then to get back to my accommodation. It took all day.
In the process I made a new friend... He showed up at one of the many bus stops and was obviously on his way home from work. He said "Hi, how are you?" I said "Fine, thanks. And how has your day been?" He said "Are you Irish?" I said "No, I am from New Zealand." He said "I am not African American. Look... (at which point he proceeds to pull his pant-leg up to show me his leg is a much lighter colour than his face and arms)…. I am Chikasaw." Turns out the Chickasaw used to live along the Mississippi before they were removed. And then he proceeded to tell me his life story. Hi is 68, has 7 kids with the same one woman, 23 grand children and 7 great-grand children. At the age of 18 his got a girl pregnant. His mama told him, "Boy, you will marry that girl. There will be no bastard children in my family." (I can just hear her saying it!) And they are still together. I thought afterward I should have taken a photo of him. I am bad in that way, I start talking and forget to take photos....
The bus came and he said 'Now you take care" and off he went... home to his very large family.
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