Greetings from Memphis

I've been in Memphis for a few days with my brother.

In 2001 we came here with our parents and I haven't been able to get Beale street out of head ever since. That's why we picked Memphis for this trip. 

We didn't quite research anything about the city and ended up here 4 days ago.

The first impression was very disappointing. On the first day we headed downtown and got there at around 10am, everything was closed of course and a bunch of shops were out of business. Not quite what we expected or wanted to see. Seems like times have been hard for business owners here. 

On the way downtown we passed by lots of abandonned buildings. That was scary, not in the sense that abandonned buildings are scary but what I mean is,it is not a good omen. 

When the only memory you keep of place is something like Beale street 15 years ago, you expect a town to be booming with restaurants, shops, music everywhere and people.

That was not the case at 10am on the first day.

At least I was able to indulge my Spongebob love on the first day.

How could I resist?

Made me think of Greg, he loves racoons.

Second day, Civil Rights Museum. One of the few things I had researched from home and really wanted to see.

Walk by the river. Very nice.

Bass Pro shop. Absolutely amazing for us French people. So big, looks like a huge movie set, so much fishing gear... As we say in France, we were 'on our asses'. And my brother and I don't even care about hunting and fishing...but it was so much more.

Outdoor concert (and a beer, not pictured)

The vampire is a ring(!!!) 

Today we went to Memphis zoo, it is a beautiful zoo and we were lucky to see almost all of the animals out of their lair.

The zoo people really worked on their Halloween decor.

 It was awesome!!

Jellyfish

Birds posing.

Flamingos!

Back to the motel today. I love motel life.

And finally, I had my first tea of the trip. I was craving it. I felt lost without it. I even thought about buying a small electric kettle since the craving was so bad but I remembered the coffee maker also works for tea. So I bought plastic cups(before I buy a 'real' Memphis souvenir mug), tea and sugar. I feel like myself again!

Tomorrow we're going to see Loreena McKennitt perform at the Minglewood plaza. I am so excited.

Memphis is really growing on me. After the first day of disappointement, I have only had a blast. Plus, people are very nice and friendly, it helps a lot! Shops employees, people on the street, road workers..... everyone greets us, that is so pleasant.

I am so glad we came here.