Memphis - Home of the King
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2005
1
81
126
Trip End
May 26, 2008
Graceland,
Tennessee,
United States
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Memphis - another city. The strange thing about these big cities in the USA, is they have no character. Besides one main road, where they stick all the clubs and nightlife, there's nothing to them. Memphis wasn't an exception. A disgusting, run down, deserted city. Maybe its just because I'm here in the dead of winter and everything is shut down and the people are hibernating, but I'm not sure. I'm getting the feeling that these places are struggling. For example, in St Louis, an entire shopping center complex had been shut down. The windows were bordered and the place was deserted. Memphis is the same. The main road had a beautiful tram running down the middle, but the shops along side it were all closed and the streets were deserted. It felt like a ghost town. Plastic bags and rubbish blew down the deserted streets, and the few people I did see were the homeless
Elvis' pool table
. Always black, always 30 something, and pretty friendly too. Poor guys.Memphis has one gem of a street. Its called Beale Street. Its similar to Broadway st in Nashville, with a whole stack of clubs, pubs, bars and other random tourist stores. It comes alive at night and the the neon is bright enough to imitate daylight.
There are a whole swag of bars along this street such as Coyote Ugly, Hard Rock, BB Kings, and tens of others, where the likes of Elvis had performed back in the day.
Graceland
As Elvis' popularity grew, he could no longer live in his childhood home because of privacy and security problems. So he purchased Graceland in 1957. He has every room customized to his exquisite tastes and bizarre ideas. Superb white carpet stretches throughout the lounge and dining room. A big blue sofa sits in the corner and a patch of marble flooring covers the floor below the dining table.
His 'Jungle room' is one of the more unique rooms in the house. Thick green shag carpet and wooden artifacts, along with a waterfall and plants give the sense of being deep in the jungles. The Jungle room was converted into a basic recording studio and many of Elvis' songs were recorded here.
The car museum was unreal, showcasing most of Elvis' car collection, such as. the NASCAR, designed in his Honor, the dragster, a Ferrari, the pink corvette and many others.
