Day 162 Memphis Tennessee
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
172
205
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Memphis,
Tennessee,
United States
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Being over the road from Graceland, of course the agenda is set for the day with a visit to Elvis's home.
Arriving at the ticket centre at 9am we were on the second 9am tour.
Loaded into a shuttle bus and across the road we go.
The entrance to the house is a smaller version of a pillared Southern mansion. An introduction at the steps by a guide, explaining that the house and land was originally a wedding gift to the original owners and he name was Grace, they named it Graceland and Elvis liked the name, hence retained the name.
The large property cost Elvis $100,000 back when he bought it in around 1957 when he was 22 years of age.
With the rules set about no flash cameras etc, we entered the doors of this famous house.
The house is not big and would in fact be rather small if He hadn't built an extension. We were not able to visit upstairs but the downstairs was nice to see.
From the house we were able to head out to his racquetball court where there was a split level section that over looked the court originally, this has been converted to a display of his international awards.
It is amazing but guess not surprising; the man achieved such greatness without the aid of modern day technology including IPods, internet etc as well as never doing an overseas tour. Yet he won awards and broke sales records throughout the planet. A walk through a hallway that housed his Gold and platinum record collection. The man definitely was one able to combine the music of the souls and the spirit of the people as it ushered in the expression of modern music.
From this hall of records to the mediation area that Elvis had put in to allow space for contemplation and peace, this is now an area where he is buried along with his father, mother, and grandmother. He definitely was a caring family man. He died in 1977 of a heart attack and certainly as far as the world is concerned he lives on in many memories and spirit.
We crossed back in the shuttle bus over the road to enter into the Car museum. This houses some of his cars and also his motorised toys, such as snow mobiles, and other fun things he had gathered. His pink Cadillac, MG, Harleys, jeep, Rolls Royce as well as Pricilla's Mercedes, she has donated to the museum. A great collection of vehicles, and a nice to have been able to view them.
We stopped long enough to have a tea/coffee and then set off to explore the airplanes, there are two there. A private small jet we could walk through, rather cramped but obvious was great for the time period, the other is a larger plane (sorry not sure what type! Or make)
But definitely a larger version set out with large lounges and tables and a board table with phones and stereo system throughout. A couple of beds and bedroom for Elvis at the tail with a private bathroom. (two bathrooms on board)
He had no problem just going wherever he wanted whenever he wanted. An example given, he realised that his daughter, (Lisa Marie) hadn't played in snow, so he piled on board and flew to the snow so she could play for an hour or so in the snow.
Apparently he enjoyed having fun and enjoyed having friends and family around him talking and laughing a lot.
We found our way to GI Elvis, a section dedicated to his time in the Army, and went to Germany. This was a tough time for him and he missed his family a lot, at this time his mother died and he was very close to her.
The last section was clothes and gear he wore, certainly it is 70's gear during his massive return, but it was great to see it and see the gear being preserved.
The gift shops are at the end of each section to ensure you can buy anything that is remotely related to his time of being.
Being close to the RV Park, we headed back to have lunch in the Castle, and regain some energy to enable us to take a shuttle bus into town, to visit Memphis downtown and the Sun recording studio where Elvis cut his first record and had his first recording contract.
The trip into town is a free shuttle service and stops off at the Sun Studio. The driver was good and explained what we passed as we drove past.
We chose not to take the tour but waited for the shuttle to take us down town.
We were dropped outside the Rock and Soul Museum just a short walk from Beale Street, this street is the original gathering place for a lot of blues, Jazz or rock and roll bands and singers. It is only a fraction of what it was originally, not long back there was an Urban renewal program happening, and they went through the process of reducing a lot of buildings to rubble and rebuilding them. This happened until they realized they were destroying a lot of wonderful old buildings and history.
The street is still full of small bars and clubs with a lot of shops with souvenirs. We found the Hotel that has ducks that move freely in the elevator into the fountain to play and swim. We observed 5 ducks in the fountain happily swimming in a central foyer of this huge flash hotel.
We walked around to find a shopping plaza attached to the hotel but certainly not a lot of open shops.
Heading back to the pick up point, it was time to take in the Rock and Soul Museum, this was an interesting walk back in time and explained the integration of Black soul Music and the modern rock and roll. Also how Elvis was an instrumental part of this integration, and how music also cut the racial barriers for all humans.
A lot of nostalgia and a lot of equipment and duke boxes with old music and tunes from many bygone stars able to be heard and absorbed.
Time for a quick Starbucks, before catching the shuttle home, further information given from the driver about the bridges, roadways and river that puts Memphis as the distribution centre of this Central Amreica.
Home and relax having spent the day being as busy as it sounds above, the weather began to close in and by the time we dived into bed it had begun to rain. We have certainly been fortunate with the weather on our journey, with only a few days to interrupt our actual sightseeing sections.
