Next stop Graceland, Memphis, home to the King of Rock & Roll and yes it is still Elvis' home but we will come back to that.

The tour of Graceland mansion starts across the road in the ticket plaza, where you are issued with an audio tour set that will guide you through the mansion once inside. Firstly though you are loaded onto a mini bus and driven across the street and up the driveway to be dropped at the front door, this is a walk able distance that would take two to three minutes but we presume they do it this way to keep you exactly where they want you.

The tour starts in the reception room and hallway following past Elvis' parents room who also lived at the mansion, then into the main dining room. All the items and décor that are in the mansion are original and the way they where when Elvis died and as such no flash photography is allowed, as over time this would damage the goods. If you wonder why Elvis' parents lived in the mansion it was for two reasons, one because his dad looked after some of his business dealings and two because he had promised someday to give them a better life which he fulfilled by having them live at Graceland.

The upper level of the Mansion is off limits as Elvis never allowed anyone up there other than his wife and daughter, he always met guests downstairs therefore the same applies now, out of respect. The lower levels were pretty cool though, boasting a bar/tv room in brilliant colour, a pool room with odd cloth décor on the ceiling and walls, and the jungle room. This was so named as Elvis had a unique waterfall built in along with green carpet on the ceiling and floor to animate the jungle theme, with some wood carved furniture and animal replica objects thrown in for good measure. Surprisingly all this gave the room brilliant acoustics so ended up been a practice room for Elvis and his friends.

An onsite office was to the rear of the mansion so Elvis' business could be conducted close to home, and nearby to this was a building that was once a full size racket ball court with a glass wall to allow family and friends to watch the game being played. At the same time the room they were watching from had a piano, stereo, games table etc and was also the room that Elvis sat in playing music and singing songs on the morning of his last day alive. The racket ball court has now been turned into an exhibit room full of records awards and video clips of Elvis performing.

The last part of the mansion tour takes you through a paddock that horses were kept and leads to the memorial garden. Here are the graves of Elvis, his mum and dad, his grandma and a memorial stone to his twin brother who died at birth. All flowers real or false that are sent here are kept on the grounds, either at the grave site or inside the mansion until they either wilt or lose colour. The memorial area also has a fountain and shows quite a religious presence in the family with cross' and statues but the garden surround as you will see on the pics is a tranquil setting.

The other parts of the tour are back near the ticket plaza, where you see some of the cars that Elvis had kept and some that he had given away to family, friends and sometimes strangers! He was a big fan of cars and bikes and bought pretty much what he wanted, and looking at some it is understandable why. David's favourite was a 'Stutz Blackhawk' from 1971 which is a huge machine with a leather interior, while Carina's was a purple convertible "Cadillac' with cream leather interior.

Next up was the period of Elvis' movie career which took a lot of criticism in its time and fizzled out, which eventually threw him into a comeback singing career. This was full of movie clips playing and clothing from the sets on display.

The two planes Elvis owned were a big feature in the tour as the Lisa Marie was a commercial airline plane that had been fitted out with sleeping quarters, a conference room, mini bar, tv and cards room, bathroom with gold platting, you name it, it had it. Elvis was known to take trips on the plane at minutes notice, for example when he realised Lisa Marie had not seen snow he took the whole family on a trip for a few hours just so she could play in the snow for less than an hour, then they flew back again!!! The smaller of the two planes was a smaller simpler jet made for short fast hops so nowhere near as impressive, but the fact he had two planes was.

Finally there was the 'Private Presley' section which spanned Elvis' career in the army of two years, in the Vietnam war and Germany. Whilst in the army you may be surprised to learn this is when Elvis and Pricilla met. They met in Germany through the introduction of a family friend who knew both Elvis and Pricilla's' dad who was in the Air force, even more surprising was that Pricilla was only 14 years old at this point and Elvis 21! It is said however that no romantic notions were encountered until some years later when Pricilla and her family returned to America from Germany some time after Elvis had.

Now some people believe that the Rock & Roll King didn't die but staged his own death to get out of the limelight, but if you look at the late concerts of Elvis before his death or supposed for the doubters, he looked rough and had aged quickly from the youthful singer and actor that first broke into the limelight.

We were unconvinced when David's booze buddy George had been and raved about the place but whatever you believe about his death or his life seeing Graceland, the cars, the lifestyle Elvis had in the early years there is no doubt that this guy had style and bags of it.

If you ever get a chance to visit Graceland and say hi to the King then do so, even if you don't think you would be interested you would be surprised it is fascinating, sadly we cant tell you it all so I guess you should take our advice and see for yourself if you can.