Graceland

Visiting Graceland felt more like pilgrimage than anything else.
Every year a huge flock of over 600,000 rock’n’roll believers converge on Graceland to see the shrine of the King, experience the space he’s been living in and feel once again the pain and disbelief about his premature departure. On the day we went there the crowd was quite impressive, even more so in the afternoon. Luckily we planned the visit well and got there early so we didn’t have to queue for too long to get in.

From the visitors’ centre a shuttle bus took us to the front of the house on the other side of the road. Elvis’ mansion is on the gentle slope of a low hill, facing guess what? Elvis Presley Boulevard, of course! By then we already were quite excited but getting inside was something really special.
The house has been left almost untouched since Elvis died in 1977 so when you walk around and see all that sumptuous vintage furniture squeezed into just one place it feels like you’ve been travelling back in time. I wrote “vintage” but in those days some of it would have looked impressively modern.

The house is big but not huge, the furniture is overwhelming and tacky, but certainly architecture and interior design were not the reasons we were there. We visited only the ground floor and the basement, as the family decided that the first floor was too private to be shown to the public.
From the hall we walked into the living and dining rooms, then moved on to the kitchen and downstairs to the music and games room, upstairs again to another living area and finally we walked outside to what used to be the driveway where Elvis parked part of his great collection of cars.

We then walked past the swimming pool which Elvis had built after moving to Graceland and visited other buildings that forms a sort of compound surrounding the main house (like the Racquetball Building) where all kind of memorabilia are stored. Hundreds of gold and platinum records and many other awards are lined up on the walls while costumes, shoes, hats, pictures, instruments and more are kept in large glass cases.

Finally we moved on to the Meditation Garden, where Elvis, his mother Gladys, his father Vernon and grandmother Minnie Mae Hood Presley lie buried. We slowly, silently walked in front of his grave and stood there for a minute. Then we got back to the front of the house and waited for the next shuttle bus.

You can see thousand of pictures on the web that are going to give you an idea of what the house looks like but being there and feeling the space around you, imagining in your head that he is somehow still there as a living presence, with his massive legacy for generations to come, all of that was very moving and something I never experienced before to that degree when listening to Elvis’ music or thinking about him.

Back to the visitor centre we had a burger and then visited Elvis’ airplanes and cars’ collection, bought a few gifts and finally drove away thinking “It’s only rock’n’roll but we love it”.

See you in Clarksdale.
(more pictures to follow shortly)