After our “day at sea” we awoke in the famous city of Memphis, Tennessee. With the water levels so low, we were docked alongside the nicely named “Mud Island”, now an upmarket residential area and so shuttle buses were organized to go into the downtown areas of the city.
The highlight, of course, was the included tour of Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, and I would think many of the people on the boat took this one. I had watched the recent Elvis film, on a plane trip and so I had been reacquainted with the story, but I must admit that it was an interesting trip. The guide, as was the norm on this cruise, was great and filled in a lot of details about Elvis’ history as well as stories about Memphis in general, and the tour itself, while busy, was very well organized. There were two cruise boats in town that day, which probably added to the crowds, but I heard that the release of the film had also caused an increase in general visitors:
The timings were perhaps a little tight as a result of the line to enter Graceland, which meant that we didn’t have time to visit all the exhibits on the site, but it was a wonderful experience, nevertheless.
On the return trip to the boat, we toured parts of Memphis seeing the sights, and there was an opportunity to get off the coach in downtown and catch a later shuttle back to the boat. We chose to return and have some lunch! I then took the opportunity to rent a bike from the nearby bike stand and did my own tour through Mud Island and Harbor Town down to the riverside park.
I don’t know exactly where the Viking Mississippi docks during normal water levels, but this was the scene in the Wolf River harbor. I would guess that the boat normally docks by those casino riverboats in the distance so that you would normally walk into town.
In this view looking along the Mississippi River (upstream), you can see our cruise boat as a tiny dot through the arch of the bridge:
According to Wikipedia, this famous landmark was going to be one of three pyramids overlooking the river:
The Great American Pyramid was first conceived around 1954 by Mark C. Hartz, a Memphis artist. The project originally included three pyramids located on the south bluffs of Memphis overlooking the Mississippi River. The largest of the three would have been scaled at two-thirds the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza near Memphis, Egypt; the flanking structures would have been scaled at two-thirds the size of the main pyramid. The project languished for three decades until Mark’s younger son, Memphian Jon Brent Hartz, resurrected the concept. Mark C. Hartz, who was well known for his architectural renderings, rendered a new bronze glass-glazed pyramid. After years of negotiations, the younger Hartz’s concept was adopted by entrepreneur John Tigrett as a symbol for the city of Memphis. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 15, 1989, and the building was opened on November 9, 1991.
Wikipedia
After closing as a sports arena in 2007, it reopened as a Bass Pro Shop in 2015. Talking to some other passengers, there is an intriguing elevator which rises up to the apex of the building to a viewing gallery – I missed that opportunity, which is perhaps a shame!
The pyramid certainly stands proud over these modern homes in Harbor Town!
As usual, departure was timed just before sunset, and we sailed past the downtown area as the light from the setting sun warmed up the clouds.
And, with that, we sailed down the Mississippi towards Greenville, Mississippi, expecting to arrive around lunchtime the next day. You can read the introductory article of this extended review of the Viking Mississippi cruise from north to south, here.
