Yes, here is our first conclusion at the end of the two days spent in here: Memphis is a very touristic place!

Wherever we went, whatever we did, we just couldn’t avoid encountering a touristic activity. We jumped on our roadie Atılgan and drove around touring in Memphis, we kept searching for interesting things in our guides, asked Teresa, our beloved GPS, her advice, memorized the booklets we got from the tourism office… And yet, none of them helped us to escape from this feeling of being in a ‘touristic’ place. New Orleans was touristic, too, but we somehow managed to discover the Frenchman Street where the locals hanged out, with the help of our friend Fatma who lived in there. In here, there are either no places like that or we haven’t managed to find any. We don’t know. The memories of Natchez, Greenville, Clarksdale linger on. We are almost tempted with the idea of going back, but the time to set off for Chicago is approaching.

Okay, Memhis… This city is filled with jazz and blues… In the tourism office, you are greeted by the statues of B.B. King and Elvis Presley.

As if writing the musicians’ names on the pavements was not enough, they named the streets and the avenues after them. And when you see the same names at the bus and tram stops, it gives a feeling like you are overdosed.

In classical words, the heart of the city is the Beale Street. Cars are not allowed to get in, just like the İstiklal Street in İstanbul. There are bars and gift shops on the street only, with not even one exception. For instance, B.B. King’s gift shop is next to his bar… But something feels ‘wrong’ in here. Is it the music? No, not at all… Metin will write the details, but let me say that what bothers you is the presence of the people at the entrances of these bars, who try to drag you in… Or the fact that half of the street consists of gift shops… The ‘miserables’ whose only concern is to snatch some money or a cigarette from the tourists passing by… So the Memphis we saw wasn’t the real Memphis but its image that was reflected upon the tourists. And that bothered us deeply. You know, no matter how many tourists rush into Beyoğlu (İstiklal Street), it still has its own rhythm that never changes. But the Beale Street is designed for tourists from head to toe. I mean, probably it wasn’t always like this, but this is what we see in June 2009. (The places like Greenville or Clarksdale had their own rhythms, and that is why we can never get them out of our heads and keep talking about them )

Of course we didn’t keep our minds busy with these thoughts, and went in and out of three or four bars in Memphis, to see the nightlife. The musicians were tight, though they only played popular tunes. And during daytime, we kept on visiting museums that held importance to us.

The Sun Studios is the place where Elvis was discovered with the record he made for his mother, and where he recorded another one that led him to fame. The building was converted into a museum. There is a small café and a gift shop at the entrance.

In this country we got used to be greeted by gift shops in every museum we visited. And the museums are designed to make sure that you pass through it once more before leaving, so if you manage to escape the urge to buy anything while entering somehow, you definitely cannot resist it after seeing the stuff in the museum.

Here, in this photo, you see Metin’s astonishment in the face of the establishment. We are waiting for museum tour that should start at 11:00.

And what they call a museum tour is passing through totally three rooms stuffed with historical material, under the guidance of an employee talking about related events, memories, etc… The narration is fine, however it is not rich in content and mostly limited to things about Elvis. Still, it’s worth seeing. In the picture below, you see the first room, filled with different materials.

The second one is the room in front of the recording studio… There we see the desk of the lady who discovered Elvis and an old Pepsi Cola vending machine.

And the third room is the recording studio… The narrator told us that all the equipment in this room was still in working condition.

At the end of the tour, Metin sang to the microphone that Elvis recorded his last songs in Memphis.

Now, here is our second conclusion: You hit a wall after three lucky jumps!

We took a brutal trip on one of these steamboats of Mississippi. Since we were already heading north along the Mississippi River, we jumped over the first possibility of taking one of these trips in New Orleans. The second jump was in Natchez, and the third one was in Greenville. And we made the mistake of saying “Oh, we’ve been seeing these but we never got on!”, and we hit the wall…

There is nothing special about being on these boats. You can either sit down in the part below, getting exposed to the heavy smell of cooking oil in an air-conditioned compartment, or go outside and get cooked under the sun breathing clean air. In the end, it’s all about strolling up and down on a muddy river which means nothing, especially to those of us who live by the Bosphorus.

In fact these boats look beautiful from the outside, but once you are in, you only see plain fields and none of this beauty. And there is nothing else to do other than taking meaningless pictures. I don’t want to sound like a wiseass, but if you ever come here, don’t take these boat trips. It’s much better to get to the dock when it is about to leave and watch the beauty of this steamboat leaving the shore and take pictures of it, while it goes and goes for an hour and a half with the people in it. Don’t waste your money and your time. Just take a walk around, in which ever city you are in.

This all from Memphis, for today… Fikret and I will soon be packing and heading to St. Louis with Atılgan and Teresa. See you soon…

Yes, here is our first conclusion at the end of the two days spent in here: Memphis is a very touristic place!

Wherever we went, whatever we did, we just couldn’t avoid encountering a touristic activity. We jumped on our roadie Atılgan and drove around touring in Memphis, we kept searching for interesting things in our guides, asked Teresa, our beloved GPS, her advice, memorized the booklets we got from the tourism office… And yet, none of them helped us to escape from this feeling of being in a ‘touristic’ place. New Orleans was touristic, too, but we somehow managed to discover the Frenchman Street where the locals hanged out, with the help of our friend Fatma who lived in there. In here, there are either no places like that or we haven’t managed to find any. We don’t know. The memories of Natchez, Greenville, Clarksdale linger on. We are almost tempted with the idea of going back, but the time to set off for Chicago is approaching.

Okay, Memhis… This city is filled with jazz and blues… In the tourism office, you are greeted by the statues of B.B. King and Elvis Presley.

As if writing the musicians’ names on the pavements was not enough, they named the streets and the avenues after them. And when you see the same names at the bus and tram stops, it gives a feeling like you are overdosed.

In classical words, the heart of the city is the Beale Street. Cars are not allowed to get in, just like the İstiklal Street in İstanbul. There are bars and gift shops on the street only, with not even one exception. For instance, B.B. King’s gift shop is next to his bar… But something feels ‘wrong’ in here. Is it the music? No, not at all… Metin will write the details, but let me say that what bothers you is the presence of the people at the entrances of these bars, who try to drag you in… Or the fact that half of the street consists of gift shops… The ‘miserables’ whose only concern is to snatch some money or a cigarette from the tourists passing by… So the Memphis we saw wasn’t the real Memphis but its image that was reflected upon the tourists. And that bothered us deeply. You know, no matter how many tourists rush into Beyoğlu (İstiklal Street), it still has its own rhythm that never changes. But the Beale Street is designed for tourists from head to toe. I mean, probably it wasn’t always like this, but this is what we see in June 2009. (The places like Greenville or Clarksdale had their own rhythms, and that is why we can never get them out of our heads and keep talking about them )

(Resim 3)

Of course we didn’t keep our minds busy with these thoughts, and went in and out of three or four bars in Memphis, to see the nightlife. The musicians were tight, though they only played popular tunes. And during daytime, we kept on visiting museums that held importance to us.

The Sun Studios is the place where Elvis was discovered with the record he made for his mother, and where he recorded another one that led him to fame. The building was converted into a museum. There is a small café and a gift shop at the entrance.

(Resim 4)

In this country we got used to be greeted by gift shops in every museum we visited. And the museums are designed to make sure that you pass through it once more before leaving, so if you manage to escape the urge to buy anything while entering somehow, you definitely cannot resist it after seeing the stuff in the museum.

(Resim 5)

Here, in this photo, you see Metin’s astonishment in the face of the establishment. We are waiting for museum tour that should start at 11:00.

(Resim 6)

And what they call a museum tour is passing through totally three rooms stuffed with historical material, under the guidance of an employee talking about related events, memories, etc… The narration is fine, however it is not rich in content and mostly limited to things about Elvis. Still, it’s worth seeing. In the picture below, you see the first room, filled with different materials.

(Resim 7)

The second one is the room in front of the recording studio… There we see the desk of the lady who discovered Elvis and an old Pepsi Cola vending machine.

(Resim

(Resim 9)

And the third room is the recording studio… The narrator told us that all the equipment in this room was still in working condition.

(Resim 10)

At the end of the tour, Metin sang to the microphone that Elvis recorded his last songs in Memphis.

(Resim 11)

Now, here is our second conclusion: You hit a wall after three lucky jumps!

We took a brutal trip on one of these steamboats of Mississippi. Since we were already heading north along the Mississippi River, we jumped over the first possibility of taking one of these trips in New Orleans. The second jump was in Natchez, and the third one was in Greenville. And we made the mistake of saying “Oh, we’ve been seeing these but we never got on!”, and we hit the wall…

(Resim 12)

There is nothing special about being on these boats. You can either sit down in the part below, getting exposed to the heavy smell of cooking oil in an air-conditioned compartment, or go outside and get cooked under the sun breathing clean air. In the end, it’s all about strolling up and down on a muddy river which means nothing, especially to those of us who live by the Bosphorus.

(Resim 13)

(Resim 14)

In fact these boats look beautiful from the outside, but once you are in, you only see plain fields and none of this beauty. And there is nothing else to do other than taking meaningless pictures. I don’t want to sound like a wiseass, but if you ever come here, don’t take these boat trips. It’s much better to get to the dock when it is about to leave and watch the beauty of this steamboat leaving the shore and take pictures of it, while it goes and goes for an hour and a half with the people in it. Don’t waste your money and your time. Just take a walk around, in which ever city you are in.

This all from Memphis, for today… Fikret and I will soon be packing and heading to St. Louis with Atılgan and Teresa. See you soon…