Broadway

If you like country music, Nashville is the place to be. I was fairly surprised, this was a city, I knew that already but I expected a more country orientated ambiance. There is a certain irony that the centre of the universe for country music is a reasonably sized city.

A little research tells me that the city itself has a population of 610,000 with a total population in the municipality of 1.73 million inhabitants.

Down on Broadway, that is where most of the bars seem to be located, plenty going on during the day and the evenings just get better.

2nd Ave, Nashville

Noriko wasn't well so I was left to my own devices wandering the streets of Nashville. There are some great streets off of Broadway, one I liked was 2nd Avenue, there are plenty of small bars and shops lining the streets. Plenty of colour and interesting shopfronts, unfortunately for me, I was only here during the day and couldn't spend the evening enjoying the bars and nightlife.

Memphis waterfront

As the day rolled to a close, we only had one full day in Memphis and we needed to make it count - we didn't. We wasted half the day firstly at the Greyhound Station and then waiting for a local bus to take us downtown - a terrible waste of a day.

Yet as the sun was setting, heading down to the waterfront to watch the mighty Mississippi River amble by capped off the day. The local government had just upgraded the waterfront and I very much appreciated their efforts, I spoke with a young local couple who asked me to take their photograph was a great way to watch the evening approach - I just love the people in this part of the country, so down to earth.

Memphis International Airport

We had a motel close to the Memphis international airport, what a surprise we received as our bus heading downtown sped up a ramp and we were able to peer over the airport high wall. The tarmac was full, every jet however was painted in Fedex colours, we did not view one commercial passenger jet parked on the apron.

I get the feeling the term international airport relates to Fedex business activities and nothing else. Every American airport I saw seemed to have the designation, I tend to believe owing to the hub business model, not many international flights tend to originate or end at most of these airports. Later when we arrived downtown and walked Main Street, the maps showed Fedex Plaza at the end of the tourist precinct. Without any research, I'm starting to think Fedex is headquartered in Memphis, a fact, if true, I was unaware of before.

Downtown Memphis

Walking through downtown Memphis, the city centre is clean and tidy A number of Fortune 500 companies base head offices in Memphis including FedEx, AutoZone and International, to me, Memphis looks like a corporate city.

The legacy of Martin Luther King

Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee is the site of the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, the prominent civil rights activist. Naturally, I knew of the "All men are created equal, I have a dream" speech. I must profess, I was unaware of sanitation worker's strike or the events leading up to the fateful day. Today was the day I learned a little of contemporary American civil rights history without even going inside.

I was sitting outside on a retaining wall over the road; I was listening to these elderly southern ladies chatting. In their thick southern accent, I very much enjoyed listening to their colourful stories, they were joyful and happy, some of the things they said were just gold.

As I, she was waiting outside, she didn't want to go inside to witness the museum for different reasons than me when she came out with "I don't find this so exciting, I lived through the time, I don't want to relive this." I opened my tablet and started tapping keys, this was a defining moment in my United States trip, I wanted to make sure I recorded this moment.

The other lady came out and started describing the museum tour, she didn't like it much, it was a little crowded and she was unable to go at her own pace when she came out with "I don't like no confining, I like my freedom."

My blog is observations in an undemocratic world; my short time sitting on that retaining wall outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee listening to these two wonderful southern women defines what I am trying to achieve, I only hope I do this moment justice.

Blues City Cafe

Having wandered up and down the famous birthplace of rock & roll in Memphis, Tennessee; we decided to head into the Blues City Cafe on Beale Street. Ordering a full serve of ribs and some stuffed and sauté mushrooms, this easily fed two people.

These ribs were delicious, I can now see why Americans have such an affiliation with ribs, these were not only well proportioned with plenty of flesh, the meat fell off the bone. Service was crisp and funny, our waiter offered good advice, we were entertained with good quality old style rock & roll.

All up, a thunderous summer evening in Memphis.