Memphis

Arrived in Memphis in the early afternoon. It's the warmest place so far - a quick glance at one to the signs showed that it was 100F and getting hotter! A major downer was the fact that there is no longer a hostel in Memphis, only hotels and motels. So it was to be another short stop here. Most of the first day was spent checking out Beale St, which is full of bars and restaurants, most of which have live music playing. Tried a local Gumbo at a bar which had won a prize of it previously. However, looking along the street later it appears that most of the bars have won a prize for their Gumbo at some point!

The next morning was spent wandering along the riverfront on Mud Island. One of the most impressive things their is a scale sculpture of the lower Mississippi - which is 1/4 mile long itself. Then it was off to Graceland, using the free Sun Studio shuttle. I'm not a great Elvis fan but you can't really come to Memphis and not go there. To be honest it is well worth the visit as it isn't too reverential or tacky - I think that has been left for the Heartbreak Hotel which is just outside. Catching the shuttle back to Sun Studio I was expecting to have to hang around there for a while - you're meant to stay at least an hour there and they do try a bit of a hard sell on the studio tour. However, 10 minutes later I was back on the shuttle into town - they don't seem to check how long you have been there which kind of defeats the object!

Next stop is New Orleans - as someone in the Visitor Centre pointed out I am doing a kind of musical tour of the US.