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Memphis - Part 3
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
The city of blues, music, Elvis and ribs. An adventure in the path of W.C. Handy, to Martin Luther King to Peabody Ducks.
Day 3
The next morning, we woke up to head to the Gibson Factory to hit both the Rock 'n' Soul museum and the Gibson Factory tour. They're both in the same building just east of Beale Street. We started with a tour of the Rock 'n' Soul museum that chronicles Memphis' influence on music from the time of the delta blues to the present.
It's an amazing archive with materials from the Smithsonian and private collections. After leaving, you're a bit taken back by how much of an influence Memphis has had on the blues and the music industry as a whole. There is so much material, it's possible to spend literally hours there, but at the least, give yourself an hour and a half to two hours.
From there, we headed downstairs to catch the factory tour of the Gibson factory. Gibson recently reopened a factory in downtown Memphis that helped revitalize the area by introducing new jobs and new tourism. The factory tour now showcases where guitars, such as the B.B. King "Lucille" and the Nikki Sixx "Blackbird Bass" are made. It shows every step of the process, and it does give you a much better appreciation of a handmade American guitar, like the Gibson.
After the factory tour, we headed over to Elvis Presley's Memphis, (where we met the bus yesterday), but this time to go for lunch. We've heard all of the talk about Elvis's Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich and felt it was about time to try the darn thing. I must admit that it was much better than expected -- kind of like a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but with a banana feel. Okay, that was a simple description, but it really doesn't require more than that. There's no reason to be scared.
Elvis Presley's Memphis is a pretty good value and is located right in the area where you'd want to be touring anyway. The portions are pretty reasonably sized, and you'll regret the fact that you can't take your doggie bag back to the hotel if you go there for lunch. I mean, a catfish can't survive all day of touring.
For the afternoon, we spent it exploring Beale Street by day. There are a few dozen shops hawking Elvis souvenirs and blues memorabilia. Actually some of the shopping is pretty good for such things as the prices in Graceland are a bit more. Also, if you're looking for some great deals, head over to A. Schwab, which is a family-run general merchandise store in business for 126 years on Beale Street. It you're looking for very affordable souvenirs, this is the place to go. One-dollar hats are mixed with other odds and ends scattered throughout the store. It's also a good place to grab materials you might need that you forgot this vacation.
You can easily spend two to three hours walking along Beale Street just checking out the environment and the local blues scene ... and shopping. After walking along Beale Street, we continued that theme by heading over to the Peabody Place entertainment center.
It's essentially a mall that's connected to the Peabody hotel, but it's an enormous mall with the likes of the Gap and Virgin Record Stores. It also has a 22-film movie theater and a number of restaurants. What's most amazing about the entire project is how it revitalized the entire area. The project covers eight city blocks, with restored historic buildings, a 15-story modern office tower, apartments, offices, restaurants and gathering places. It's entirely changed the look and feel of downtown Memphis for the better.
After exploring even further we headed over to Automatic Slims Tonga Club. Many of the locals say that other areas of Memphis have more modern and "non-blues oriented" food, and Automatic Slims is one of these examples. The entire décor is modern, and the food is gourmet. This was one of the best meals we had in Memphis, and the bread was amazing. The portions were rather generous, and the service was quite commendable.
After dinner, we grabbed a taxi back to our hotel, as we remembered our experience last night and felt it safer to grab a taxi. Actually, the waiter warned us that "Copley Square" was known locally as homeless square, and shouldn't be entered or crossed at night.
Overall, it was a great visit, and I'd highly recommend following the itinerary we took in downtown Memphis. I would, however, stay downtown near the Peabody, or in the Peabody as most of your activity will be there. Between Graceland, the Civil Rights museum, and the blues clubs, you can easily spend a weekend in Memphis and not get bored.
Read part 1 | Read part 2 | Read part 3
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