Today, my blog entry deals with Graceland, Elvis’ mansion in Memphis. Graceland is one of the most visited private homes in the US and attracts every year about 600,000 visitors from all over the world. In 1982, it opened his gates for the public.
The mansion, 17,550 square feet big, includes twenty-three different rooms, containing eight bathrooms and bedrooms. Graceland got famous for its luxury, as well as crazy stuff in it. For instance, it includes a racquetball court, a swimming pool and a room, which is designed like a jungle. The mansion was also used for recording purposes, such as the records of the albums “Moody Blue” and “Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee”. Additionally, Elvis created a Meditation Garden, in which his parents got buried.
After Elvis’ first successes, he bought his first house in Memphis. Time after time, he became more famous and decided to purchase a bigger house. With a budget of $100,000, the Rock’n’Roll legend assigned his parents to buy him a bigger house, Graceland. He lived there with his family, as well as with his several ex-wives and friends. On August 16, 1977, he died in one of his bathrooms through a heart attack.
I’ve visited Graceland and was very overwhelmed by the mansion. It really includes every luxury, an human can imagine. Besides of his dream cars, Graceland exhibits several rooms, such as the “Jungle Room”, a television room with three huge screens and his living rooms. Moreover, Graceland had its own ranch, often used by Elvis and his friends for horse-riding. I was also very interested in his collection of private jets, which includes a plane that was named after his daughter “Lisa Marie”. Also stunning was the diversity of the different rooms. Elvis absolutely had a knack for design and fancy details. Unfortunately, it was not possible to visit every room of the property, because of privacy regulations. Plus, and especially in the point of view of a visitor or tourist, Graceland is definitely too expensive. I paid over $30 for the entrance (student discount already included). It really squeezes money out of its visitors
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Graceland is certainly a flagship of the city Memphis. What do you think about Graceland? Have you ever been there?
