Today we are alone once again. Dale had a great week with male company while on the boat and now he has just me once again.....
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| Historic Beale St after dinner last night with some new friends we met on the boat |
Our hotel is across the road from a lovely park - we are seeing a lot of squirrels scampering about - they are not that concerned about people moving about the park.
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| Park outside our Hotel on Front Street |
Today we decided to visit the National Museum of Civil Rights which is
located in the Lorraine Hotel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated outside his room and the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum, Sun Records and if time permits the Gibson Guitar factory.
For the princely sum of $1 pp our trolley bus driver dropped us off right outside the National Civil Rights Museum and we
had a look at the outside displays and movies covering the assassination before approaching the door. We
hadn’t read the pamphlet very well and discovered that on Sunday’s it didn’t
open till 1pm (it was about 11:15am when we arrived). "Not happy, Jan". It is getting hotter and humidity is high again. It is physically wearing......
So we decided to walk about 5 blocks to the Rock and Soul Museum.
This museum is dedicated to the various styles of music which came out of the
Memphis area and gave some insight into how and why they evolved. The display
itself is fantastic with many exhibits of early types of music recording and
playing equipment. You are provided with a small audio device and all the
displays have numbers which the device explains to you in considerable detail. Also many of the
displays have songs and music attached to them which can also be played. A
very interesting worthwhile place to visit.
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| Juke box for playing 78's with the part of the original transmitter from "Grand Olde Oprey" in the background |
A couple of hours later we walked back to the Civil Rights Museum down Beale Street. It is not quite the same during the day but still a buzz.
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| Beale St by Day, not nearly so colourful but still lively. |
At the National Civil Rights Museum the displays
deal with the plight of the black African people and their struggle for
freedom after being freed from slavery. The display has a lot of information
but at times tends to be a little repetitive. The display occupies both the
hotel where Dr M.L. King Jr was shot and the boarding house where the shot was fired
from.
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| Lorraine Hotel where Dr M. L. King Jr was assassinated |
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| View of the balcony from the boarding house where the killer was positioned. |
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| Part of the Civil Rights display depicting the public transport boycott |
After this we had both had enough walking and another $1 on
the bus and our driver even made a small detour and dropped us outside our hotel.
Tonight we opted for local pizza - quite nice change from the meal recently.
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