We arrived and checked into our hotel, by this stage mum and dad had no idea what the locals were saying due to their accent and needed to let Tim deal with everyone, and of course by the end of a conversation with a local, Tim was unconsciously mimicking the deep southern accent.
We headed to the infamous Beale Street for dinner. Most of memphis when you look at a map looks so spread out but it is actually quite close together, the blocks are small compared to what we are used to here in Toronto, so we thought best to take a trolley there. Now these trolleys are actually orignially from Melbourne, Australia; they are the old, old, old ones, complete with so much history and character and due to their archaic age we were doubting Thomas' when we were told they were accessible. To our splendid surprise the town of Memphis had ingeniously created an accessible system that kept the heritage of their transport system. The whole process of getting Tim into a trolley did take about 10 minutes however but for Tim who had never had the pleasure of experiencing this heritage beauty, he was wrapped!
So as you can see here, Tim gets put in a cage like box with a concrete floor and it raises up using a key operated system that the trolley drivers carry with them. Then they put a ramp up and he is in!
The funniest part of this process was that you could tell it had been a while since the last wheelie had been in Memphis as the conductors kept getting the whole process mixed up. It was like watching Mr. Bean packing and repacking his car.
We got to Beale St and the song "Walking in Memphis" popped into my head and I could not stop smiling at what I saw...the history and home of Rock n Roll and the Blues!
Having a traditional Memphis meal...BBQ which consists of a whole lot of corn, baked beans, pulled pork and coleslaw. I got my first taste of Fried Green Tomatoes and I have to admit there really is no other way to eat tomatoes now, it trumps balsamic crusted baked tomato!
On our walk back to the hotel we spotted the fairy tale night time ride
Each carriage was equipped with a canine traveller which Roxy thought was christmas!
The Memphis locals are so hospitable, nothing is too much of a bother for them, time is of no essence and everybody is relaxed with a great sense of humour. Here are some locals and general sights on Beale St.
Tomorrow off to Graceland!
