Day 18 - Memphis

Memphis - 33°c

Somehow I managed to get up early enough this morning to make the bus to Graceland! We departed for Graceland soon after 8am, and Scott and I were definitely still a bit drunk when we woke up after our three and a half hour sleep! We were still giggling as much as we were the night before and running on the adrenalin of the night before too.

We arrived at Graceland just before 9am and were some of the first people there. - I guess Kristina wanted to get us there as early as possible to avoid the queues later on in the day. Our first point of interest was to head to Graceland mansion, otherwise known as Elvis Presley’s home. What surprised me first of all as we pulled into Graceland, was the sheer size of the estate. It sprawled wide and far back, and had lots of buildings in addition to the mansion.

Once we’d boarded the free shuttle bus over to Graceland mansion we were allowed in, in groups after being given our audio headsets to accompany us and guide us round the mansion. Our first view was of the staircase that greeted us from the hallway leading to the upstairs portion of the mansion. - The very same upstairs that is blocked off to the general public and in fact anyone not specifically invited up there by the Presley family. The reason being that it was always considered as Elvis’s private area where not even guests would be allowed when they were invited by him to his home. However I think the more underlying and substantial reason (and perhaps somewhat more controversial too) was that Elvis of course died upstairs at Graceland, in the bathroom.

Downstairs we viewed all of the rooms, including the front sitting rooms, the kitchen, Elvis’s parent’s bedroom where they stayed when visiting, and eventually the ‘jungle room’. Each room was decorated with immaculate detail and flare, the décor of each room being different from the next, and completely exotic and over-the-top in glamour and appeal. The first room we came to was the ‘front room’. - With its white leather sofas and black grand piano, the room was stunning. Next came Elvis’s parents room and then the dining room, complete with it’s large chunky mahogany dining table and chairs, and enormous chandelier that hung down from the ceiling and above the table. Along the hallway were large photos and portraits of an ‘earlier’ Elvis and his family. Baby photos of Lisa Marie next to her Dad in black and white were very stunning and poignant.

Next up was the kitchen where Elvis would have his meals prepared by the staff that helped him around the house. From there we got a short glimpse of the ‘jungle room’ as we turned a corner and headed down into the basement down a staircase that I loved! A stair passageway down into the basement, it was entirely covered wall to ceiling (and including the ceiling) in mirrored glass! It made for a fantastic effect and something that bearing in mind was a decorating idea born of the 50’s, still made for something very funky even now.

Once down in the basement there was a games room with pool table, and a TV room, which was definitely my favourite room of the entire mansion. It was covered with black and yellow leather furniture, glittered and studded sofa cushions and once again a mirrored ceiling. Over in the corner of the room was a bar area that once again was covered in black and yellow leather and the entire room was just fantastic! Something to definitely aspire to replicate in some way now I’ve got my own place back home as it definitely appealed to me and got my inner interior decorator pulse racing!

We went up another staircase from the basement and came back up to the famous ‘jungle room’, the last room in the mansion tour. This was another incredibly surreal yet fantastic room with its green shag-pile carpeted floor, ceiling and walls! With hand-carved wooden furniture, exotic looking statues and plants, and even a waterfall wall on one side of the room! Over by the waterfall was a large round wooden-framed comfortable ‘easy’ chair that apparently Lisa Marie called her favourite and loved when she was a child.

After exiting the mansion itself, we headed across it’s garden where Lisa Marie’s swing-set sat from when she was a child, just in front of the wooden building Elvis’s management used as their office, setting up his gigs, TV appearances, receiving fan-mail from around the world and “Taking Care of Business” a phrase Elvis coined and became one of his most famous quotes.

Just outside of the office area was a giant paddock that stretched a long way down into the grounds of the estate. Over to the right were giant stables for horses and a couple roamed free in the paddock, presumably taken care of by the ‘estate’ now. We made our way across the garden paths and into the ‘trophy room’, a large building full from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, of all of Elvis’s awards, trophies, newspaper clippings, outfits and posters from his career as a singer and actor, as well as some of the many philanthropic achievements he made.
There were Grammy awards, Billboard awards and literally hundreds upon hundreds of ‘gold discs’ up on the walls everywhere, and was incredible to behold. Some of the outfits from his films were mixed in with the attire that he and Priscilla wore to their wedding.

After that we moved into what was originally the ‘racquet room’ where Elvis and his friends would play racquetball with one another and have others watch from behind the glass walls. Nowadays it’s been converted into another extension of not only more of Elvis’s awards and trophies, but also a dozen or so of his famous ‘jumpsuits’. With their studs and jewels stitched and sewn into them, they’ve always seemed slightly tacky to me when I’ve seen photos of them, but I guess I’ve just always related them to the tacky Elvis impersonators that are everywhere nowadays. In the flesh though, they were very impressive and the attention to detail on each of them was something that deserved great recognition.

The final and most sombre part of the mansion tour was the meditation garden, where there was a pool and diving board, alongside a large fountain. Once upon a time Elvis would spend time out there relaxing and chilling out, nowadays Elvis and his family have each been buried out there. Stunning, large tombstones marked their graves, each with truly beautiful words inscribed on them. Flowers, wreaths, bears and marble angel figures created a border around Elvis’s grave. Despite it’s obvious solemnity, the entire area was very, very beautiful and peaceful.

We boarded the free shuttle back over the road to the rest of the estate where there were now shops and restaurants dedicated to Elvis’s memory, Elvis’s two planes, and a couple of hotels that were now run by Elvis’s estate and management, including one called the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ which I walked to and took some photos of.

Soon our two hours at Graceland was over and we boarded the Contiki coach and headed into another part of Memphis where we visited the ‘Lorraine Motel’ where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated back in 1968. Kristina had already shared with us the story of what happened that day also a lot of the history associated to Martin Luther King’s speeches and his efforts at being a peace and racial equality activist. Once again the sight was extremely poignant and full of history.

Our last stop on our mini-tour of Memphis was ‘Sun Studios’ where Elvis recorded many of his albums alongside many other famous and groundbreaking musicians including Johnny Cash and B.B. King. After a quick look round the place, others took the $12 official tour inside, but I headed back on a free shuttle bus to Beale Street with (Aussie) Danni, from where I then walked back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Scott was already fast asleep when I arrived, already having the same good idea as I!

A couple of hours later, I woke up around 4pm and spent a couple of hours around the hotel and down by the hotel pool Michelle, Marnee, Lauren, Nathan and some others, before the everybody met up downstairs in the hotel lobby at 6:45pm ready to walk down to Alfred’s on Beale Street for our Contiki-paid dinner.
It certainly wasn’t the biggest or best meal I’ve ever had, but it did the job of providing some ‘free’ food after another hectic day. In the background a band played an infusion of rock ‘n roll and blues music which was quite entertaining, but by 8pm I, alongside several others, were slightly bored and thought it was too early to be starting to party again, so headed back to the hotel with the mention of perhaps heading back later on.

Once back at the hotel a large group of us including James, Marnee, Lauren, the two Michelle’s, Jess, Scott and Steve sat by the pool again for a very brief while before we made our way back inside, unable to stand the insects and mosquitoes trying to bite our bare legs as it got darker any longer! Inside we had a bit of a corridor gathering for a while, sitting down outside the rooms surfing the internet since it’s hard to get signal actually inside the rooms, writing up blogs, drinking, eating and chatting to one another. After a few people headed back around 10:30pm and went into their rooms, we figured we ought to move into someone’s room since it wasn’t fair on those trying to sleep with us making noise outside of their rooms.

(Aussie) Michelle volunteered hers and Marnee’s room, so we all headed up there and piled on the beds and scattered around the room, continuing our activities in the corridor. Around 11:30pm an end to the night was called, nobody particularly bothered about heading back out to Beale Street and wanting a (comparatively) early night after a big night out last night. I headed back to the room and packed up my suitcase ready for a quick escape in the morning and got to sleep very, very quickly.

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Part of trip: Trip of a lifetime!

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