Memphis, Part One

Memphis,  Part One

Cindy wanted to celebrate her birthday in Memphis Tennessee, and boy did we celebrate.  We arrived for our six-day visit at the huge and empty Memphis Airport. When Delta and Northworst merged, Memphis was dropped as a hub from the Delta schedule and there are scores of empty gates.  Since Memphis is the home of Fed Ex, the airport is still very, very busy, but all with cargo flights as opposed to passenger flights.  A short taxi ride took us to our hotel, which was right in the center of Memphis, and in no time we were wandering the streets looking for a place to have dinner.  Memphis is a very lovely city on the Mississippi with grand old buildings, ornate decorations and a grand Trolley system.

Our dinner was acceptable but marred by the worst waiter in the world.  A young man who was obsessed with using the royal plural first person, as in, “Have we decided on an entrée?” and “Have we chosen a wine?”  Cindy finally looked at him and said, “WE don’t know what WE want but WE will let YOU know when WE have decided.”  His English was only one distraction from his ability to be a decent server, but we had a good chuckle and a decent meal.  We walked a bit more after dinner since it was a balmy night and retired to our room for a nightcap before a lovely sleep.

After our morning exercise routine and a very good complimentary breakfast at our hotel, we cleaned up and headed out for a day of excitement.  Our first stop was Mud Island.  Anyone who has seen the film “The Firm” will remember Tom Cruise running away from the albino killer on the pedestrian bridge and Monorail that connects Mud Island with Memphis.  We chose to walk the bridge and got there just before the heavens opened up and it rained like it rains in the tropics.  Luckily it’s a covered pedestrian bridge and it was glorious to be standing there looking at the Mississippi on one side and the skyline of Memphis on the other while the rain hit the tin roof with a staccato beat worthy of Buddy Rich.

The Mississippi River Museum was a delight and captured our attention from the minute we entered until a few hours later when we exited. It is interactive enough to keep you engaged and strikingly beautiful. One minute you are looking at static exhibits tracing the history of the area, then you are wandering though a juke joint complete with music and menus, and at the next turn you are stepping into a full scale Mississippi River Steamboat, complete with the sights and sounds associated with life on the river.  We walked though the grand salon, looked into the staterooms and wandered the decks looking at the wheelhouse, cargo and boiler area.  We both had a ball.

The weather was much better by the time we exited, and feeling a bit peckish we looked for a place to have lunch.  We were drawn to a little bar called The Brass Door and as soon as we sat down, we knew we had found a place that we would frequent often during our visit. The bartender was a delightful, the chef talented, and the manager was a Brit who had a doctorate in medical chemistry but was working at the bar since St. Jude had cut back. It turned out that he and the bartender were husband and wife and she was almost done with her law degree. Talk about a lot of talent behind the bar.  It rained again while we had lunch and when it stopped we headed out to the National Civil Rights Museum, yes, two museums in one day!  This was a very moving experience and highly recommended for anyone in the area.  It has recently been renovated and is truly well done.  It ends at the room at the Lorraine Motel where MLK spent his last night before being shot on the balcony. We spent another few hours at this museum and I was emotionally exhausted and needed to take a nice walk back to the hotel.

We dined at a restaurant right next to our hotel, McEwen’s, and it was really good, so good that we made reservations for Cindy’s actual birthday dinner. After dinner we took a walk to Beale Street, home of the blues, and the joint was jumping.  The entire street had been blocked off to traffic and after a pat down search we were joining the throngs who were listening to lots of live music in all of the clubs, bars, restaurants and gardens.  We wandered into the W.C. Handy Park where a five piece band and a wonderful singer were playing the old blues that Handy had made famous. We broke away around midnight, when things were just getting interesting, but we had an early morning planned and needed to get some sleep.

More tomorrow…..