No holiday to the Memphis area would be complete without taking in a visit to Elvis’ home at Graceland, so that was decided to be today’s first destination. By taking a taxi from the hotel we managed to arrive before most of the crowds.
The complex resembles a giant theme park celebrating the life and times of the King and houses a large museum of artifacts including gold records….
….his stage suits….
……his cars…..
….and some of the artists that followed him. Here Sylvia tries out her best Dolly Parton impersonation.
A short shuttle ride across the road took us to the Graceland mansion itself.
Here we were guided around the house via an iPad app which took us through each room on the ground floor but we were not allowed upstairs, this still being considered Elvis’ private space. Each of the rooms were decorated in what may be described as a very indivual style as these photos illustrate. Firstly the living room….
….the TV room….
……the pool room (check out the ceiling)…
…..and finally the den, known as the jungle room because of the decoration.
After leaving the house the tour took us to the memorial garden where the graves of Elvis, his parents and grandmother can be found.
Sylvia felt that she was being drawn into some dark cult worshiping in the church of Elvis.
The next port of call of the day was Sun studios, the Memphis recording studio that first recorded Elvis and is where Rock ‘n’ Roll was first created.
After a short walk through a small museum of original acetates and recording equipment we entered the actual recording studios in which many great records were made. A very enthusiastic guide named Lorna told the story of Elvis’ first recording session having members of the audience acting out key personnel. She even demonstrated how Johnny Cash created the “train” effect on “Walk the Line” which was also recorded here.
The studio is still used today with bands such as U2 recording here, but still it retains many of the original features including the cross that Elvis stood on for that first recording.
We were feeling quite hungry by this stage so returned to Beale Street to eat, this time in the Blues City Cafe. Here I tucked into catfish and chips and Sylvia had some shrimp.
A great choice.
A walk around the shops completed the afternoon and what more fitting way to end the day than a pictureof the King himself.
