Chicago (again) and Memphis

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24th to 25th March - Chicago
Two museums and a quick peek at the Art Institute finished the Chicago experience. The museum of Science and Industry had, amongst other stuff, a huge model train set depicting the ride from Seattle to Chicago with plains, mountains and rivers as well as the cities, people and industry; and a WW2 German U-boat captured off the coast of Africa and brought back to the USA to use in the breaking of the Enigma code. This museum claims that the US broke the Enigma code and my understanding has always been that the British broke it at Bletchley? Any information anyone? The Field museum the following day was fantastic - very varied exhibits ranging from the Ancient Americas through the Crow Indians, gem, mineral and meteorite galleries, and a huge exhibition of stuffed animals in their habitats. We could easily have spent all day there and it was well worth the $14 entry fee, which we didn't pay as a kind tourist in the science museum had given us his unused tickets from a package deal he had.
We had time for a meal at the Elephant and Castle pub on Adams Street before catching the 8pm train to Memphis.
I really like Chicago, though it's a little chilly and windy. It's probably the river that winds through the skyscrapers, as well as the Canadian winds from Lake Michagan.

26th / 27th March - Memphis
We slept pretty well on the train; the coach seats tilt back a long way and there is plenty of leg room with extending leg rests and foot rests. Amtrak provides a pillow and motion always sends me to sleep anyway.
We arrived at Memphis at 6.30 am and took a trolley car and bus way out of town to the hotel we'd booked arriving there at 8am, intending to drop our bags off and head back into town.
'You can't get into your room till 3pm', said the unhelpful receptionist, continuing that we couldn't leave our bags there and we had to stay with them. I wanted to speak to the manager, who apparently did not start work until 11am. Kev pointed out that this was the first hotel he had ever come across that did not allow bags to be left and I suggested we find another hotel, and magically a storage room appeared to be at our disposal. That sorted that, but we didn't manage to raise a smile from her the rest of our stay.
It was a pain having a hotel so far out of town, but it's interesting taking a bus with locals rather than just staying on the tourist routes. We heard a great conversation - a guy was saying police couldn't come into his house without a warrant, his daddy tole him and his girlfriend was saying they could, 'Yo daddy is 92 years ole, he don't know. They would jest walk in and whop your black ass.' Another rider agreed with her, 'They god a special code,' he said.

We spent two packed days in Memphis and could have spent a lot longer. We both went to Graceland, Elvis' home, and saw the ground floor and grounds of his small but beautiful house, gracious outside and as you'd expect inside - 50's, 60's and 70's rock star decor. We saw his cars (that pink Cadillac!), planes, motorbikes, other motorised vehicles, costumes, trophies and his and his parents' graves.
A free shuttle bus took us there and then on to Sun Studios which launched Elvis and a host of other greats including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison,Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King and Howling Wolf. It was a tiny studio with a good display of the equipment used and an excellent description by the guide.
The shuttle dropped us off at the Rock 'n' Soul museum where I'd still be if I hadn't been turfed out at closing time, the audio set wrenched off my head, with my feet still tapping. As well as excellent exhibit cases detailing the history of the life and roots of gospel, hillbilly country music, swing, blues and soul, there were a variety of early juke boxes with selections of music on them that you could play. And I did, until 7pm. Poor Kev had to sit in the Hard Rock Cafe for an hour with nothing but beer to keep him company.
Apart from Graceland and Sun Studios, Kev and I did different things here, and met up at the Hard Rock Cafe afterwards. (Guitars from Tom Petty and Johnny Cash, blue suede shoes from Carl Perkins).
Kev went to the Gibson guitar factory and the Stax museum and I went to the Peabody Hotel and the Civil Rights Museum. The Peabody hotel (where 'The Firm' with Tom Cruise was filmed) is a delightfully restored hotel where the Peabody ducks spend their days in the fountain in the lobby of the hotel, and their nights in the Duck Palace on the roof (great views of the city). The ducks, which have been a feature of the hotel for 75 years, were used as decoys on a duck hunt and instead of being returned to the farm where they lived, were put in the fountain as a joke. The hotelier found that the ducks were so popular with guests, that he kept them there and each day there is a ceremony at 11am and 5pm when they walk along the red carpet to and from the fountain and the elevator.
The Civil Rights museum is set in the motel where Martin Luther King was shot. This was very moving and was another place where I could have spent all day. It was unbelievable that 100 years after slavery was abolished (in some states at least), half the population was still being treated like animals. I remember hearing about the struggles at the time, and King's death was only 40 years ago. It makes me examine everyone I meet of my generation - did they feel that sense of inferiority / superiority that segregation must have brought? And then I marvel that only 40 years later Barack Obama is where he is and am staggered that readers of some newspapers can question Reverend Wright's sermons as being anti-American. Only two generations on from the civil rights battles there will still be huge pools of racism to combat.
I saw Barack Obama on TV last night with a panel of four questioning him on why he didn't leave Reverend Wright's church. He answered that if anyone had a DVD of clips of all the stupid things they'd said over the last few years, it would not give a true picture of the person. And he's right, we don't give up our good-hearted friends who do kind deeds just because they sometimes say something we don't agree with. We'd all be friendless hermits if we did.
Reverend Wright is old enough to have seen and experienced the battles of the Civil Rights Movement; of course he feels strongly.
A little more on politics and then I'll be done.
I was wary of coming to the US, Bush having given me a certain impression of the American people that I didn't want to increase. But without fail - hairdresser, cab drivers, fellow passengers, people in queues (sorry - on line) have all asked what the wider world's attitude to the US, and have vilified Bush.

Memphis is heartening - the music always brought black and white together and the fusing of the two historical strands gave us the music scene we have today. Beale Street is a vibrant place of music and tourism now, every bar and shop has music, and we spent our last evening here at the City Blues cafe - wonderful ribs and the music of Johnny Cash and others sung by Gary Young and the Memphis Two. We had an early start the next day, so got a cab back to the hotel rather than wait for a bus - and that is the cue for the next story which I don't have time for now, so will write again soon - I have found an internet cafe open till 9pm, round the corner from the hotel.

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