Austin Fairfield Marriott (Feb 8, 2009)

I know…I know...I have not updated my previous travels with what happens, but I have decided to do something of a Quentin Tarentino, and publish those posts later. A bit of suspense J

Anyway, this trip was supposed to be my Texas adventure, but my flights got rescheduled giving me a few hours in Memphis, which is also a supposedly must-visit city. So my trip started at 6am, and the first stop on Northwest was Memphis – The Land Of The King : Elvis A Presley.

As I had not rented a car, I decided to try out the public transportation. Also, my first stop – Graceland, Elvis’ home was quite close to the airport, and so I though I will try the MATA. That was a mistake – there is no pedestrian way to walk to the bus stop from the terminal, I had to do it the Indian way – run across roads and walk through grass. Definitely not my idea of fun!

Also, the buses were usually delayed by 5+ minutes, and this is the first bus system which I have seen in the US that is so late. But they did arrive and I went to Elvis’ house. As I was crunched for time I couldn’t take the tour, which could easily have taken 3-4 hours. I jumped into one more bus and landed up at Sun Studios, which is where Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc got their initial breaks and also recorded stuff. Again a few more photos and then I walked up to Beale Street, which is a historic district. Lots of music stuff around, but now I really was crunched for time, and caught a bus back to the airport.

I don’t know why I did it, but trudged back again to the airport.

Overall, it was a nice trip- I got a glimpse of Elvis’ land, and it was worth a look. I may go there again, but I think it will not be too very high on the agenda.

Landed up in San Antonio in the evening and rented a car. The temperature was 76F there, which was such a huge difference from Boston. I was roaming in my tee shirt – awesome!!! I drove to the RiverWalk, which is a quite nice and pleasant place with a sort of walkway on a small lake or something. It was nice there, but before that finding parking was a pain. Had to park a bit away for 3USD, and then walk. Luckily the Alamo was on the way and I stopped there to see it. This is supposed to be the most popular attraction of San Antonio and it is a sort of church which the Spanish built long ago. It is a must see, and though it is small, it is worth the visit.

Once this was done, I went to the RiverWalk, walked along it with a Ben and Jerry’s and oh yeah…got myself a Harley Davidson Tee for 15USD. All in all, a good deal.

Finally it was becoming darker around 6pm, and I had to drive to Austin. So I left here, but vowing to be back Monday morning to do another round of the San Antonio missions.