Memphis

...help book a trip to Memphis and anything Elvis related, you can also purchase tickets for Gracelands on here as well.

On the third night we stayed in one of the four themed rooms, the "Graceland" suite, this was a gift for my dad, and we only stayed in here for one night, retaining our other rooms. This cost around $300.00, and was superb. You can hire any of the rooms out for one night during your stay, including the Hollywood ...
...of Elvis's favourite dishes, full Memphis style. The breakfast gathering was in 'The Jungle Room', near the pool area, containing a bar, dining area and a huge cinema screen to watch Elvis concerts and movies. Although there was no cooked items at the breakfast (which to be honest was really a blessing after eating fried food all week), there was a marvellous range of muffins, bagels (three types), crispy crème donuts (yes, you read correctly, donuts ... more

Memphis: the home of the blues, the birthplace of the king of Rock n Roll, assassination place of Martin Luther King, fried food galore and sweet southern hospitality.

Elvis's Heart Break Hotel

During our week stay, we resided in the famous Heartbreak hotel, where Elvis movies are played 24 hours a day, Elvis gift shops are abundant and the pool was heart shaped! The hotel is directly opposite Elvis's home, Gracelands and is owned by the Elvis estate.

We stayed in a room that was adjoined to another and it was huge! There was a living room, with desk, television, sofas, telephone, a kitchenette with fridge, sink, tea making facilities and microwave, followed through into a double en-suite bedroom with another television, plenty of space for clothing and belongings and the bathroom. The room was clean and our towels and free toiletries were replaced everyday by the friendly room services. The room also gives you two free postcards and heartbreak hotel headed paper and envelopes to keep or send home to family and friends. I do not know the prices for these rooms, as the trip was booked as a gift, but the hotel does have its own website http://www.elvis.com/epheartbreakhotel/ This is also a great website to help book a trip to Memphis and anything Elvis related, you can also purchase tickets for Gracelands on here as well.

On the third night we stayed in one of the four themed rooms, the "Graceland" suite, this was a gift for my dad, and we only stayed in here for one night, retaining our other rooms. This cost around $300.00, and was superb. You can hire any of the rooms out for one night during your stay, including the Hollywood suite and the Burning Love suite.

The Graceland suite was a replica of Elvis's home and contained a dining room, two living areas, a kitchen, bedroom, a bathroom and a powder room. You could also extend this room into another living area and bedroom at an extra cost, if there are more people, the more the price splits. The decoration, attention to detail, photos, style and colour was all accurate to Gracelands, which we had seen during the day already. The only disappointment with this room, was a poor view from the windows into the parking lot and there was no extra additional items that when paying for superior rooms in other hotels you may expect, like complementary drinks such as soda, (which was Elvis's favourite drink).

The hotel also boasted a gym, however this need severe updating, although it proclaimed not to be a gym but just an exercise centre, the cycling machine was broken, only three weights were left on the stand and only the running machine seemed modern and working efficiently. The sink also did not work and there was no towels or any tissue for use also.

Our hotel rate also included breakfast, including some of Elvis's favourite dishes, full Memphis style. The breakfast gathering was in 'The Jungle Room', near the pool area, containing a bar, dining area and a huge cinema screen to watch Elvis concerts and movies. Although there was no cooked items at the breakfast (which to be honest was really a blessing after eating fried food all week), there was a marvellous range of muffins, bagels (three types), crispy crème donuts (yes, you read correctly, donuts in the morning), cereals, yogurts, fruit, toast facilities, juices, tea, coffee, biscuit and sausage gravy (basically a scone with sausage gravy covered in it; it was a favourite of Elvis's - I tried it, I recommend giving it a go, but it wasn't my cup of tea, particularly at 7am in the morning!). The breakfast was unlimited and was always fresh and baked that morning, so was always tasty, fresh and satisfying. The Jungle room also provided snacks and meals in the afternoon and evenings, there is no room service available, but you can take the food to your rooms in plastic containers. One night we sat watching Elvis movies in our living room, all four of us crammed on the sofa eating burgers and chips, was a great night.

On our free shuttle bus service, the tour guide told us that The number of visitors to Memphis and Gracelands increases every year, so the heartbreak hotel was attempting to build another down the road, to update its facilities and extend its room numbers. It seems everybody wants the true Elvis experience.

I also highly recommend that you attain the Elvis Membership pass, this allows you to get discount on everything throughout the whole estate, from booking another room at the hotel, to the endless souvenirs that you will end up buying. It cost $20.00 and we saved several hundreds of dollars with this card. We did not find out about this card however until a few days into our trip, which should have been recommended as we booked into the hotel, so make sure you ask about it! You can also use this card further after your trip on the official Elvis website and you get a grovie little badge with Elvis on it to show you are member.

There is additional accommodation in Memphis including other hotels, motels, B&Bs and also near Gracelands that offer competitive rates compared to the heartbreak hotel, however I did not visit these so I cannot comment on the general quality and service of them.

Transport - Getting Around Memphis

Our flight to Memphis was not direct, we flied with American Airlines and first stopped at Chicago. This flight was about six hours, with a three hour break in the middle, and then a two hour flight to Memphis airport. Airport security in America was very tight and can take a while to get through, please remember under no circumstances is bottles allowed on the planes. I got told off at security for accidentally having a bottle of unopened water, even though I had just bought it at that airport five minutes previously and had the receipt! Also with medications I highly recommend taking a letter from your doctor and the packaging with them, my mum being a diabetic with insulin got stopped every time.

Although this review is about our trip to Memphis and the city as a whole, our flights with American Airlines were awful, and if I was recommending an airplane to Memphis it would not be with this company. The planes were all severely outdated, never cleaned properly between flights and I found most of the stewards abrupt and rude. They continually had flight cancellations, which happened to us on our way out of Memphis causing us to wait around for several hours, staff could not keep their advice consistent to us at check in and then at the final boarding gate. The food was awful and never was my button answered when I asked for a steward (even though their quarters were six rows behind me and clearly visible). We took six flights in total with this airline (for our second week we went to Orlando, Florida) and personally I would attempt to fly with another provider.

There is plenty of parking for guests and visitors at the heartbreak hotel and around the Presley estate, so you can easily drive here from the airport which is less than a 10 minute ride away.
However you do not need a car to visit this place!!
There are regular airport shuttles to the heartbreak hotel and there are regular bus shuttles to downtown Memphis and run from 7am to 11pm at night from the hotel itself and they are all free. The drivers are all very welcoming, will give you additional information of the local area on your trip and will answer any question you have. Just be sure to tip your driver!!

If of course you decide to rent a car, there are shuttle buses from Memphis airport to a variety of rental places, where you can choose a variety of cars dependant upon your family size and luggage needs. Car rentals give you a free full tank of 'gas' that does not need to be refilled, and is charged on a daily usage.

There are many ways to experience and travel around the city of Memphis. The most popular was the tram service at the top of the famous 'Beale street', that travels around downtown Memphis, past the National Civil Rights museum, past the Memphis "pyramid" and down to the Mississippi river where you can catch an original showboat and cruise. This had a reasonable price of $1.00 per ride per person, be sure to have the exact change only!! We found that on a Sunday that the trams stop at 6pm, so we had to walk back from the Mississippi River to Beale Street, which was quiet a feat uphill!

After dark you can go on a horse and cart ride around Memphis with a tour guide. We paid £60 for one hour. The tour was pleasurable and gave us an insight into the history of Memphis including its trades such as cotton, its musical history such as Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and its modern developments including shopping malls and the Memphis Pyramid which was a sports stadium, but ended up like the English Millennium Dome! There was a variety of horse and carts, including a Cinderella coach with lights, all the tour guides are locals and were very friendly and helpful. There of course city buses and taxi services also, however during our whole stay we did not need to use them.

Weather and Your Health in Gracelands and Memphis

Memphis was so hot, stepping out at five in the afternoon, felt like midday sun in the UK. It was an intense, dry and dusty with no circulation of cool air. However for those thinking this may not be the trip for them because of the heat, every place was heavily air conditioned including cars, restaurants, bars, hotels and shops. We visited Memphis in July, but August was supposed to be incredibly severe heat, so I would recommend going between May - July for the best weather that is bearable. Memphis was a strange city in itself. For most of the time the once booming city was deserted, with only a few people on the street at any one time. I could not decide if this was due to the heat intensity or because of how immense the city was in size. We experienced no rain during our stay here, so big recommendations on a high SPF sun cream and after sun care. Also cover up with a hat and sunglasses, and drink lots throughout the day, I found I became very dehydrated quickly. I further found that under the conditions of heat and sweat my skin broke out, and also I kept getting bitten (only on one blimen foot I might add). So anti-insect and itch cream is also another big must.

Tupelo - The Birth Place of Elvis and Where he Bought his first guitar

On our first day, we were recommend to visit Tupelo where Elvis began his life and to see his humble beginnings before he even made it to being a star. This was a separate excursion, recommend by the hotel staff, and had a fee of $120.00 per person, this included being driven, shown the sites, lunch and the return journey back to the Heartbreak Hotel. This was a great tour and we were in a small group, us four and a couple, who turned out to be an Elvis impersonator from Holland!

The drive was over an hour to get to Tupelo and once we arrived first visited his school where he completed 7th grade. We stood on the same steps where Elvis had his pictures taken as a student, although we could not visit inside the building you could get an essence of the 1920s and 30s of Elvis being a young boy.

Our next stop took us into town where Elvis bought his first guitar. Mr Howard who owns the 'tupelo hardware store' colourfully tells tourist groups the same story of how Elvis's mum bought him a guitar instead of a rifle. You can touch the same counter which remains in place today and walk through the same door Elvis and his mum walked through. Photography is encouraged and Mr Howard will answer any questions. He also actively encourages you to buy his merchandise including badges, postcards and guitars. My sister being a musical student and huge fan of Elvis, bought a pink guitar and case, in the same store as Elvis. We was able to take this on all internal flights and also our international flight home on the plane, the stewards were good enough to let us store them in their luggage area.

We then went and had lunch in Elvis's favourite place to eat as a teenager known as "Johnny's" which was in the middle of nowhere. I had the same burger Elvis would have ordered, the "all meat burger", which was fabulous. The waitress told us he would sometimes order 20 of these in one sitting, and it was not difficult to see why, as they were light, really yummy and tasty. I could have easily sat down and have eaten two or three more. Furthermore you could sit in the same spot as the King, and the proof is in the picture next to the seat of Elvis staring right back at you. The place also boasts a "drive through" style takeout service. You drive up, a waitress takes your order and then returns with the goods. The place itself has not been updated since Elvis has been here and therefore is grubby, and there were flies everywhere. However this was a great insight into the life Elvis lead and I felt privileged to have visited this place.

Our next stop was a trip to his school as a child, and was closed for the summer for refurbishment. However a cleaner, incredibly enthusiastic, invited us into the school and take a look at the inside of the school. She showed us into the old building Elvis walked through and the main assembly hall which has not been changed since it was created. It was strange sitting in the first row, thinking Elvis may have performed on the stage I was looking at, or even sat in this very chair as a boy. The cleaner then told us, that her husband and Elvis shared the same great grandfather and were therefore related. She gave us local information, website details and loads of photos to look at, including a signed picture of Elvis's wife.

Our next stop in our large air conditioned car, was to his home that he was born in. The complex also includes his parents car of the 1920s and 30s, the chapel Elvis worshipped in, statues, dedications, a gallery museum of his life as a child and his parents beginnings and of course another Elvis shop. The tour costs $10.00 per person and you are required to check in your cameras just for the museum part of the tour.

We firstly went around the gallery and read about his parents being extremely poor and having to borrow money to build their first home as a married couple during the 1920s depression. Elvis's father Vernon, built a wooden two roomed house, with a porch and fireplace. There was no fridge, no air conditioning, electricity, no indoor toilet and no running water!!!! The two rooms were incredibly small, just enough to get in a double bed, a few chairs and tables and a cool box in.

It was strange looking at the bed Elvis was born in, I felt incredibly sad that his mother lost one of her twin sons and then could no longer have children after Elvis. This is to me perhaps demonstrated why mother and son were so close in life, until her death.

You could not walk around the two rooms, and had to present your ticket before you could even enter the door, where a women gladly tells you and answers questions regarding Elvis's first years here. From this poor dwelling you could understand his generosity in later life and also his extravagance with money. You could further understand why Elvis looked after his family on his estate at Gracelands, being so close to them through these hard times as a child.

At the time of our visit we were unable to see the Chapel or the car of Elvis's parents because these were being cleaned and renovated for Elvis's birthday anniversary, so unfortunately I cannot comment on these parts of the tour. Our return journey took around an hour and included a little goodie bag of tupelo from our friendly driver.

A day out to tupelo needs a camera to take lots of pictures with, as you will want to act and stand in the same places that Elvis was, and considering the next part of our trip at Gracelands meant no video cameras or flash photography was permitted I highly recommend taking lots to make up for it. Each location around Tupelo has a memorial plaque of Elvis and his actions in that place, where you can also have your photo taken.

Gracelands - Home to the King of Rock n Roll

Gracelands. The estate of the King of Rock n Roll, Elvis, and his family the Presley's, and also Elvis's final resting place.

If you are visiting Memphis, a look inside the Kings home is an absolute must. There are a variety of passes into the home, and the more you pay the more you get to see, ranging from the basic package of just his home to a VIP exclusive, allowing to enter the house, see his Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II planes, exhibits of his gold awards and 70s costumes and his enormous collection of cars (including his famous pink Cadillac) as many times as you like during your whole visit. We opted for the platinum pass, where we could visit his home, planes, cars, costumes and other exhibits in one day.

Although this trip was a life long dream for my dad and my sister as they were huge fans of Elvis, even I felt a sense of sadness at the words written on his grave and seeing him surrounded by his family in the memorial garden. His favourite place for meditative thought and relaxation. You are able to visit this garden freely without payment into the house between 7:00 and 8:00am in the morning, and can walk through the gates and up his driveway where he famously drove his pink Cadillac. However after 8:00am you have to attain entrance into the house by shuttle bus from the other side of the road, there are security on the gates and you cannot walk up the drive. We did both experiences, and I believe the first one held most significant for us, as we were alone all four of us in the garden with the King.

Inside the house and estates (including the Elvis complex on the other side of road where you get your shuttle bus from) there is absolutely no video cameras or flash photography! You are made to check your cameras into security lockers and beware every time you visit them you have to replace the money. (I believe it was a $1 ago) We had already booked our tickets in the UK for the Gracelands experience through Thomas Cook, when we got there was no queues to buy a ticket (either because we got their reasonable early at about 9am or because everybody else had bought there's either online or from their home country). We also found the tickets was cheaper to buy on the day and had been charged an additional £50 on top for all four tickets by Thomas cook.

Once you receive your timed ticket, you then have to wait for a shuttle bus. After ten minutes we got into our queue where all our bags and camera types were checked (you can take no flash and still shots inside the house) and if you have a video camera you are made to get out of the queue and put it into a locker. We then had out photo taken as a family, 'outside' the Gracelands gates (was a photo backdrop) and was given each an audio headset and quickly shuffled onto the bus. The whole process took about 20mintues, later in the day when we returned from the house, the queue was as three times as long, so the key to a day at Gracelands is get there very early! I would also recommended no push chairs or prams, I saw a women struggling through the whole experience, up and down stairs, onto buses with two screaming babies and her husband looking around in awe in an oblivious state rather than helping. Furthermore there is only one set of toilets and drinking fountain on the estate, so be sure to go before you get on the shuttle bus and carry some form of drink with you.

The bus took us out of the complex and across the road and through the famous musical gates of Gracelands and up the drive. We stopped outside the front entrance and once again all shuffled out of the bus, and queued to be let into the house with other audio geared up tourists. There are plenty of security and lots of staff outside the house, and they were very entertaining in telling the story of the house before even Elvis got his hands on the estate. This is also a great time for a photo opportunity, we had accidentally got into a good spot into the queue where we could take a direct picture of ourselves outside Elvis's front door.

Walking through into the house, the audio guide was helpful in telling you where to stand, and all different aspects of each room as you walked into it. The only problem was I could not get my audio to stop, so it continued about rooms I had not even been into yet. Then once I managed to get it to stop, could not manage to get it going again!
The internal decoration was incredible, on entering through the main doors, the first rooms were his dining and living room and there were stunning and even during the 1970s was incredibly ahead of its time in my opinion. Elvis definitely had flare when it came to design! There is also a sneaky peak at his parents bedroom on the bottom floor, and you get to see his mothers clothing, shoes and handbags, that are very much stuck in the 50s and 60s era. The upstairs to the home was sectioned off and no tourists or staff are allowed upstairs under any conditions. This remains Elvis's family's home and as stated on the audio guide "even when Elvis was alive he never entertained upstairs; upstairs was private and so remains private to this day".

Following the other photographing tourists you pass into his bar and lounge areas, including his kitchen, which for the era of the 1970s was completely mod cons. Compared to Elvis's first home as a child, where it was two small rooms as the whole house, this really was luxury. You get to see his snooker room, the jungle room and his bar and tele area.

Entering outside, the land of the estate is huge. There are stables, horses, further outdoor buildings including a gym and play areas for Elvis's daughter, Lisa. We visited Elvis's Hall of Gold, which is an impressive sight, a whole gallery and room dedicated to his work, including all his gold records, awards, posters, costumes, artwork from fans, cheques he had written for charity, photos, televisions with him performing and his wedding clothes. On leaving this building you get to visit his gym, this however had been further converted into awards he had received after his death, including costumes for his sold out performance that he never made it to. This room was huge and everywhere you looked was an award, photos and costume covering the walls, floor and stages; even after his death he was continuing to make an impact on the world.

After leaving this building you very slowly progress towards the meditation garden and walk around the graves of Elvis, his mother, father, grandmother and a memorial plaque to his twin brother whom died at birth. There are floral tributes, dedications, artwork and candles from fans all over the world. The Elvis estate receive these daily from fans worldwide and place them on his grave site for them until they deteriorate due to the weather. You are allowed to take photos in this part of the estate, allow some people did not approve in the queue.

After leaving the garden, we progressed back to the front of the house and waited for a shuttle bus to return us back to the other side of the road to continue our Elvis experience. The buses were very clean and the drivers were very friendly, on arriving back our audio guides were taken from us and we decided to continue our Elvis tour with his cars, planes and costumes. The house tour took about an hour from start to finish from leaving the shuttle bus depot and queuing. At the end of your tour you can also collect your photograph from the beginning and this cost around $25.00 (you could get a discount with your Elvis membership card!).

The first exhibit we visited with his 1970 costumes from his Las Vegas tours, the galleries were dimly light and there once again is no flash photograph allowed. Glass cases preserve and protect his costumes, but due to the lighting was very difficult to take any decent photographs. This exhibit was very short as it seems most of his earlier costumes were not preserved, until his later years. All his seventies jumpsuits were heavily adorned in stitching and jewels, with eccentric capes, animal designs and flared trousers. There are famous quotes and costume designs adorned the glass and background of the costumes.

At the end of every gallery is of course an Elvis adorned shop. On leaving this exhibit you could play for half an hour for $100.00 the same pool table Elvis played on with the Beatles, the only time he ever met the Beatles in the United States. The souvenir range is immense and varies in price according to each persons budget, however the price is high, I paid over $50.00 for a mug, three magnets and two keyrings with the Elvis logo, pictures etc; which worked out about £28.00!! The shops hold an enormous collections and ranges of postcards, t-shirts, mugs, magnets, stationary, keyrings, watches, DVDs, Elvis replica costumes, books, phones, beach towels, rugs, teddy bears, ash trays, belts, caps, hats, glasses, bottle openers, pyjamas, baseball bats and balls, pin badges, guitars, statues, ornaments, swinging leg clocks, limited edition royal Dolton collectables, juke boxes, film cells, limited edition gold records, Elvis dolls, jewellery replica of Elvis, photo frames, shot glasses, metal plaques with "Heartbreak Hotel, Lonely Street", and "Elvis Boulevard" and even your very own Elvis Presley shower curtain.

You could also get food on this establishment, including an ice cream parlour. The food was a little over priced here for what you got, but we did get our discount with our loyalty card. You can also get a refillable Elvis cup for during your day at the Elvis complex.

At the end of the day we then decided to have our pictures taken with the king himself. This was a great experience, you can selected a range of poses of yourself with the King and be shot against a green screen and then superimposed onto the photo as if you are with Elvis. My sister took an amazing photo dressing up in a 1950's dress, she looked as if she was on a date with Elvis (see photo at the end and tell me what you think!).

Shopping and Eating In Memphis

Shopping in Memphis is an odd activity. There is no real main shopping centre and most of the shops in the streets have been abandoned, predominately as people have moved into bigger cities.

Memphis's 1950 era is evident from the architecture and streets, and the many shops that have been abandoned have some modern boutiques that have taken its place, but they look really out of location. Further down to the river, it has been re-modernised and is being updated, even further along there are modern developments such as the Memphis pyramid and shopping centres. However these also appear to have been abandoned, the modern shopping centre with Gap, Victoria Secret and others, once fully of booming shops have all been closed, and those that remain open practically pounce on you for a sale.

Beale street has several shops for buying touristy goods and souvenirs that meet a range of peoples needs, and there is even a Hooters to buy a real hooters top! However these also differ, some being really modern and welcoming, whilst some are still in a time-warp and are wary of tourists and young children. My sister and I stepped into a huge shop, that looked like it was from the 1950s with a strange window display and even weirder contents on sale inside. We were watched by some women at the display counter with a beady eye (being 21 and 17 I thought we were passed the children looking age). Then again we went next door into a "Rock n Roll shop" and was completely welcomed. Overall I would say that if you were coming to America for shopping that Memphis would probably be one of the last on the list as it was pretty uninhabited and any shopping malls or shops had been abandoned or were struggling for business.

Memphis is also pretty cheap to buy in, though I did get ripped off when buying one tourist photograph. A chap next to me wanted his photo and spoke with a southern accent to the seller, attaining his two photos for $5.00, after finding mine, requesting two as well and speaking with my London accent, the seller promptly charged me $10.00. This was the only real incident I had in Memphis and no other place did this occur.

Food and drink are incredibly cheap in Memphis compared to the UK, a two big Mac meal with extra large fries and drink was $6.00, about £3.40! However clothing seemed to be a bigger cost and expense, t-shirts and jackets raining in the $25.00 upwards mark. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from all boosting a great deal, predominately selling burgers, fried chicken, BBQ and chip dominated food. Salad based food is very rare, any salad you do order is lettuce and tomato. Any vegetables are mainly fried also, including gherkins or 'pickles'.

However I highly recommend trying the local cuisine, partially Beale's Street BB Kings fried green tomatoes starter, catfish main meal and their soup. All the food in here is too an incredibly high standard, fantastic value, with free live entertainment of soul and blues music. I also recommend visiting the deli in the main street of Memphis, where Tom Cruise famously filmed "The Firm", having your picture taken outside and grabbing a great baguette to go.

A Night Out on 'Beale Street'

A trip to Memphis is not complete without a visit to the famous "Beale Street" at night, where home of the blues gets its true meaning from. Although you can visit, have lunch, shop and meet up for a drink during the day, the real excitement begins when the sun goes down. The Vegas style street, lit up with colourful enticing blues and jazz signs, buzzes with different music and beats, with live bands and actors on the street. The outside staff of each establishment attempt to pull you inside, and before you know it your eating a large rack of ribs, with a beer and dancing to "shake a tail feather".

After a certain time you have to pay a fee to get into the premises, particularly BB Kings, for the live entertainment and food. Also the live entertainers make no bones about coming around after their show for more tips, by which point you have been so merry from the buzz of the place or to most tourists have way to a drunken state that you happily give over your cash.

The live entertainment only goes on to around midnight due to local policies, but on some nights they allow the music and drinking to go on to 2am, so check this out when you get their with the locals if you are looking for a long night out. The street is also cordoned off to cars and so is a walking pedestrians area and police parade this street every night, due to its high level of customers and that any trouble is quickly dealt with.

This is really the only form of night time entertainment that Memphis has to offer, unless you go out to a resturant for food, such as Marlows, a famous BBQ resturant worldwide for their ribs. The coolest thing about this resturant it that they will pick you up from your hotel for FREE in a pink cadelliac, to their resturant to eat and then return you once again for FREE back to your hotel!!!! This was a great novelty experience and i really recommend giivng this ago. The food was also sensational and the BBQ ribs really were fantastic.

Hard Rock Café on Beale Street - Elvis's Jailhouse Rock Jacket

Hard Rock Café on Beale Street was a great experience. The whole restaurant is adorned with local Rock n Roll memorabilia and lots of costumes from Elvis's films, including his Jailhouse Rock shirt, which we did not know was even in existence! It also had some photographs we had not seen and several of his guitars. The further had suits of Johnny Cash, the blues brothers hats and many artists who grew up in Memphis.

The food here was also very good, service was excellent and the waitresses kept refilling our soft drink glasses without even asking. The food range was also impressive, including more than the local cuisine, including items such as fajitas and nachos. The food and drink was also inexpensive compared to the Hard Rock Café in London. We paid about $75.00 for four people, having starters and a main and a range of drinks. This was less than £50.00!! I highly, highly recommend a lunch here. They also have a shop and a bar if you just want a sneaky peak, and they also encourage filming and photography of their extensive collection.

Sun Records - The Making of Rock and Roll History

No trip to Memphis is complete without a tour of Sun Records. This building is the most famous in Rock and Roll history, signing up the likes of not only Elvis, but Jerry Lee Lewis and Jonny Cash. This building is now an American national heritage site and under no circumstances can anything be removed or changed, so it will be preserved for all time. The tour is only $10.00 per person and waiting around for the tour to begin you can sit down and have a soda in a bar like fifties diner, looking out onto the door where Elvis first walked in, or wishing you owned the fabulous red fifties convertible that sits period correct outside. On the other hand, you could shop around the entrance for other souvenir goodies to add to your, by this point, growing collection including t-shirts, mugs, records and endless postcards.

The tour begins by being led by an enthusiastic tour guide, whom takes you upstairs, (where there is once again absolutely no photography allowed what so ever), where you get to see original sun recording equipment, costumes, videos, music and many posters and photographs. He then takes you down a lot of flight of stairs, into the original recording studio, and get the chance to stand in the same spot as Elvis with a great 1950s microphone. Your tour guide will continue for about half an hour to tell you about the recording studio and the many records and guitars on the wall and the immense musical history behind them. He then also attempts to sell you his tourist selling CD and encourages you to leave a tip behind.

At the end of the tour, you can have the opportunity to record for $30.00 a song on a CD in full karaoke style to endless choice of song, or as my sister did without any backing music and sung on her own. You get to go into a recording booth, where you put on the big headphones and record straight onto CD. My sister being the big Elvis fan and also a musical theatre student, found this a wonderful opportunity and was (after a bit of encouragement) ecstatic to have recorded a song in the same studio, barely two metres away where Elvis recorded his first number one hit.

The Gibson Guitar Museum and the Museum of Rock and Soul

Exiting off the famous Beale street is two great museums for an afternoon's activities of getting out of the hot Memphis sun, on the opposite side of the road to each other.

The museum of Rock and Soul was another audio tour, with a film introduction and gallery exhibits. We paid around $10.00 each again, and walked around the galleries. The galleries begin with how Gospel music in the fields lead to the beginnings of blues and jazz, and how this emulated into Rock and Roll. The galleries hold many costumes, instruments, photographs, posters, memorabilia, original song lyrics and videos from many famous artists of the last century, not just Elvis, including Jonny Cash, June Carter and Jerry Lee Lewis. This tour took about an hour and then ended up in another shop! This shop was very small and did not have a large number of items to buy. They did have water to sell, but unfortunately this was not cold and like most places sell water that have been purified, that tastes metallic. Toilets are also on the end of your tour and the whole place is air-conditioned.

This was a great self guided tour and you can go fast or slow as you wish, it was also pretty empty of tourists and so you could see everything you wanted easily in the glass cabinets. However once again photography is not permitted inside the galleries, but you did not have to check your cameras with any staff. I recommend this as a great tour to get a better sense of how Memphis bought blues to the world.

Although I did not go to the Gibson Guitar Museum, my parents did (my father is an enthusiastic guitarist) and said it was a wonderful tour around the actual Gibson factory, getting the chance to see how the guitars are constructed, and lasted about an hour.

Stepping Back in History - The National Civil Rights Museum

The National Civil Rights Museum, was an incredibly moving and wonderful experience for myself. The museum had turned the famous "Loraine Motel", the assassination place of Martin Luther King, into a museum that dedicates its work into informing people of the suffering of those denied their basic human rights throughout American History, particularly black and white segregation.

The outside of the museum, is the original motel that has been restored to the time period of Martin Luther King and has a plaque and memorial reef where he was shot. There is no access to this part, but photography is permitted on the outside.

Inside the museum photography is not permitted and you are required to check your video and digital cameras in with security, which you can collect on your exit. There is also no water permitted around the museum galleries and there are no toilets or seating inside the galleries either which personally I felt was a bad design, since the gallery took nearly two hours in walking around, as there was so much to read and look at and even then I missed some because it was very intense. However all the gallery is easily assessable for disabled customers. (Both toilets and seating are available on your exit of the museum.) The tour starts with a video showing how the museum started and its work, and then continued into a walking gallery filled with posters, quotes, photographs and exhibits.

There was some extremely clever exhibits throughout the galleries, particularly where you can walk through an original 1950s bus and watch the famous 'Rosa Parks' refuse to give up her seat for a white man. Near towards the end of the exhibit you walk into the motel itself, the room next door to where Martin Luther King was staying has been converted into a walking space where you can look into the recreated room of the night he was assassinated, and view out onto the spot where it happened.

We visited the Museum on a Sunday when it opens at 1pm. This is the peak time and if you want a queue free trip, I recommend going later in the day or during the week. There is an admission fee of around $10.00 per person. There is also a audio guide available for an extra charge on your admission fee, I did not use the audio guide myself, although my parents did. They said they wouldn't use them again as, there was too much information to read and absorb as well as listening to, however there was information on the audio that was not present visually in the exhibit.

The museum is also a charity and continues worldwide to change perception and support those still suffering from their denial of rights. If you visit Memphis you must visit The National Civil Rights Museum. At school I learnt about segregation and human rights, but never to the scope and true scale of what I witnessed at this museum, it truly opened my eyes to those that have suffered throughout American History. More information on this museum can be obtained from their informative website: www.civilrightsmuseum.org/

Take a Trip Down the Mississippi - The Longest River in the World

After visiting the National Civil Rights Museum we continued our trip by catching the tram line down to the Mississippi river for a famous riverboat ride. This riverboat trip was an hour and a half in total and cost around $10.00 each. For another $30 or so dollars, you could take the evening dinner tour, that served a three course fish meal. You get your tickets in the riverboat shop, which also has a café and very very clean toilets, (I was actually quiet surprised considering the rest of the place looked like it was about to fall apart) and of course plenty of souvenirs to take home.

On entering the boat we had our photograph taken as a family and entered on to the second of three decks. We sat down on a table near the side of the boat, half in the sun and half out. The boat filled very quickly and we were then invited to go to the bottom deck to get drinks and snacks. The drink range was impressive, including smoothies and crushed ice drinks, that came as a welcome relief to the constant soda such as coke and Dr pepper or the awful eclectic purified bottle water. The trip took off full speed, down the Mississippi river and had a full run 

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