Nick:
The morning of Tuesday November 2nd was fairly slow for most who chose to sleep in a bit on our first free day in Memphis, TN. Unable to sleep in I found myself eating breakfast at 6:45 in the morning. After eating a few breakfast pastries I hurried back to my room to retrieve my laundry hoping to beat anyone else to the laundry room next door. The early morning drizzle chilled me as I crossed the parking lot to the Marriot hotel. The lady at the front desk greeted me as I entered, handing me a room key to the laundry room she informed me another person had just gone up to start their laundry. Slightly discouraged I took the elevator to the 5th floor, and discovered Julie had arrived just minutes before me at the laundry room, which due to break downs left only one working washer and dryer. Instead of going back to my room I sat down outside in the hallway, put in my Ipod, and proceeded to read my reader. Two articles and two loads later Julie poked her head out of the laundry room and told me the machine was open. Forty-five minutes later my washer was finished and Julie had given up trying to dry her clothes in the seemingly faulty dryers. Hoping to get my laundry somewhat dry and waited nearly and hour while the dryer ran on high heat only to pull out clothes, which were still very damp. Frustrated I returned to my room and promptly began hanging my clothes about the room.
Nick:
My morning was fairly low because I like a lot of people decided to sleep in for a bit and woke up at the insanely late hour of 8am. Refreshed by my wonderful sleep I went down and had a breakfast of pastries and cereal, which made me ready to encounter the day. So I went back up stairs and went to bed. Around 11 I headed out to do laundry and stayed there laundering until about 1 PM. It would have been a very uninteresting time, but luckily there was a Piggly Wigglies right across the street where I found cheese, crackers, and 25 cent grape soda! The perfect lunch before I went back to the hotel.
Nick:
Just before returning to my room a large group left the hotel in search of a Laundromat. So I flipped on the tube as I lay my clothes about the room. Over the course of the rest of the afternoon I saw many episodes of Law and Order SVU while ironing my pants and shirts.
Nick:
After returning to the hotel I was approached by some classmates about going to Sun Studios, the studio that discovered Elvis and multiple other blues favorites.
It was an interesting walk to the studio, but the end result was definitely worth it! We got a live tour by a man with possibly the greatest sideburns on the planet. He gave a great performance explaining the history of the songwriters and recorders associated with sun while at the same time playing songs for us. At the end of the tour we even got to hold a mike that Elvis used!
Nick:
As dinner time approached I was invited by Morgan, Jeff, and Alex to attend Kaci’s birthday party dinner at the Hard Rock Café on Beale St. Our group left the hotel and made our way a few blocks over to Beale St. walking under the flashing neon lights and past the live bands playing inside the bars and restaurants. The amount of music on the street is incredible and excites the night air. Dinner was very good, we had the restaurant mostly to ourselves, and most of the group got on stage to pose for pictures with the instruments. At the end of the night we all were happy with the festivities and hurried back to the hotel as the rain fell.
Nick:
After a great afternoon in Sun Studios, we headed back to our hotel room to prepare for a evening of encountering great Memphinian food and music. So we headed back over to B.B. Kings. The music at B.B. Kings was wonderful and we were right next to the performers so that only enhanced the atmosphere and experience of the place. I ended up going with the sampler platter of traditional Memphis food such as catfish nuggets, dry ribs, fried pickles and Memphis hot wings. It was delicious! So, overly full, I headed back to the hotel ready to sleep and experience another day in the south.
No comments:
Post a Comment