The King's house

No trip to the South is complete without a visit to Graceland. We had a lot of expectations, including a tour surrounded by obsessive fans, over the top décor, general cheese and Hound Dog played over & over again. We were pleasantly surprised however.

The actual house is nowhere near as huge as you’d expect, it’s still big, but wouldn’t look out of place in an affluent Kentish town. The upstairs of the house is closed to the public but despite the 70’s fashioned décor, the ground floor seemed so normal. The lounge, dining room and kitchen were all decorated for Christmas and led into the fabled jungle room. This was a bit of a let down as I was expecting bizarre murals of the rainforest on the walls and stuffed animals everywhere, but it was again just another normal room, with a jungle influence - green carpet (including on the ceiling!?), hardwood furniture and animal skin rugs, but nothing too over the top. The TV room in the basement was ace, all blue & yellow, corner bar and the line of 3 tv’s Elvis had installed so he could watch the 3 major networks at the same time. There was also a converted room that housed some of the Presley’s personal effect such as Elvis & Priscilla’s wedding outfits, Lisa-Marie’s cot, fur bed, jewellery, outfits & Elvis’s karate gear (I thought all the karate moves were for show but he was a proper black belt).

There was a massive gallery dedicated purely to Elvis’s awards, it was massive. He had so many gold & platinum discs, Grammys for his gospel recordings and various awards. What we didn’t realise was that these were just his domestic awards. As we moved on to his racquetball court, the signs said it had been converted for his international awards. There were just as many of these as his domestic discs and also some of the classic Vegas outfits.

There were loads more exhibits including some of his early Sun-era outfits, army uniforms, film costumes, everyday gear, formal wear and more Vegas clobber. A huge area was devoted to his car and boy-toy collection (he enjoyed racing modified golf carts & custom trikes around the grounds of Graceland) and we also got to see his two private jets.

As Tash will testify, whether you like Elvis or not, this is one of the best days out the US has to offer.