Friday, October 31, 2008

Day Twenty Three: Walking in Memphis...31/10/08

Another fine day in Graceland, 23 degrees today... We walked over to the Heartbreak Hotel about lunchtime and hopped on a free shuttle bus. It took us into Memphis and left us at the door of the legendary Sun Studio, where a young nineteen year old Elvis Presley took his first steps as a global superstar. In the small studio, which today looks just how it was in the 1950's, we heard how some of the other greats had also made there first recordings on the very floor we were standing. Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and BB King... This is the room where rock 'n' roll was born. It's a place steeped in music history and we heard many stories from it's fifty long years in existence. Too many to go in to so if you feel like it just look up Sun Studio on Wikipedia... It was such a cool place, and we felt privileged to be there . When we were finished, we jumped on the shuttle bus again and it took us downtown. There wasn't a whole lot else we wanted to do in Memphis so we didn't stay long. We just walked a few blocks to see the motel balcony where Martin Luther King was Assassinated. The motel now has a Civil Rights Museum attached to it, but the original building remains exactly how it was on the day he was shot. With a few fifties cars parked out front for effect I suppose... Most of the architecture in downtown Memphis is very old and in terrible shape. It's sadly a really deprived city and has one of the highest crime rates in the country apparently. As I said there wasn't much we wanted to do so we just took a walk down the famous Beale Street and got the shuttle bus back to Graceland. We put our feet up for the evening and we're back on the road tomorrow.. 7 1/2 hour drive to Dallas Texas.. The last few days have been a bit of a history lesson. Happy Halloween by the way!!





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