Ahead of joining the American Queen on the river we had to move hotels to be where the cruise connection was located. Fortunately, it was a short one block walk to the Memphis Peabody Hotel and we were able to get there and receive an early check in.

The Peabody is perhaps Memphis’s oldest hotel. The original building was opened in the late 1860s and was later enlarged and remodelled in Italianate style in 1925.

It is an imposing building with a very ornate and elaborate foyer. It was the place to stay and be seen in prewar Memphis. It closed in the 1970s but was soon reopened and spruced up by new owners. Today the hotel appears a little tired, the décor and carpets a bit worn. But then most of the people staying there with us appeared a little tired and worn too. Just like us!

The big attraction though at the hotel are ducks. The world famous Peabody Ducks. Since 1933 ducks have marched on some red carpet from the elevators to the lobby fountain and back again. The ducks live on the roof of the hotel in the Duck Palace. At 11 am each morning they come down the elevator and march to the fountain. They swim around in the fountain until 5 pm when they get out and march back to the elevator and go up to the Duck Palace for the night. This show has been repeated every day since 1933, controlled by the Duckmaster. Quite a show!

Tap the picture and it will take you to a video.

The hotels French restaurant does not serve duck!
The next morning we headed off on an excursion to Graceland. This was included as part of the river cruise program. Allthego is not a huge fan of the King of Rock & Roll, a little before Allthego’s time. Graceland and the associated tourist complex across the road though is an eye opener to his influence and impact on the music scene.

The house itself, although large and with a few ‘gimic’ rooms, is relatively modest. The TV and music room is quite small and simple, apart from 3 TVs. He liked to have the 3 then stations on at the same time so that he didn’t miss anything. The pool room was unusual!

It took about an hour to tour through the house and some of the outside buildings which show cased the family history. The racquet ball building had been recently renovated and opened, this was like his personal squash court. It is where he played a game and later retired to the house and died a few hours later.

The outside walk then took us around to the area where Elvis is buried along with his parents and daughter Lisa Marie. Quite a simple area with some ornamentation.
It was then over to the ‘tourist’ complex for a couple of hours wandering around the exhibits, including Elvis’s two aeroplanes.

It was quite a display of his musical history; gold records, jump suits, motor cars all sorts of memorabilia, war time service details etc. The list goes on. In the background there is Elvis singing away as you look around.

One of the highlights though was having a quick lunch. It was hard to choose from the extensive menu of tasty treats. But we both settled on a plate of Peanut Butter and Banana toasted sandwiches.

These were one of Elvis’s favourite meals. Ours were toasted with butter, we passed on the bacon grease option. Probably would not go for these again. Not offensive in any way, just not the greatest taste.
Looking back on Graceland and the touristy stuff one senses that the King’s life and times have been sanitised a fair bit, there is none of the ‘blood and guts’ that happened along the way. But then, hey, why worry about all that stuff! The ‘family’ is telling the story, some rose coloured glasses are ok.
Back on the bus we returned to Memphis for a guided drive around the town before heading off to the boat. Our luggage had already been taken ahead of us.
The Mississippi River is currently running at very low water levels and travel along it is being hampered significantly. Some of the ports can’t be entered and our itinerary has been changed a little.

Unfortunately, the steamboat can’t get up the river to Memphis and we have to be bussed south to Cleveland to join it there for the night. It took a couple of hours to get there and board as the sun was going down. The luggage had also arrived ok, so we were all set for a week of steamboating.