There are no shopping malls anywhere near downtown where we might have kept cool, but there is a Bass Pro Shop - in a pyramid. This structure beside the Mississippi River was originally built as an arena. It is 98m tall (about 32 floors) and the sides at the base are 180m. Of course there was another Memphis that was the capital of ancient Egypt. This imposter is either the 6th or 10th highest in the world, depending which Google search result you believe.
Inside there are fishing, shooting and camping stores. There is a waste-of-space restaurant, a bowling alley, and several ponds and aquariums containg fish, ducks and alligators. The catfish is a metre long and the alligator about 1.5m.
There is also another large collection of stuffed animals. We don't have to go traipsing through scary woods to see American wildlife - just visit outdoor stores. This bear is over 2m tall. I'm glad I didn't encounter him before some idiot hunter shot him.
A trolley bus stops outside the complex so we rode it to see some sights. The trolley bus is an air conditioned imitation of the trolley cars that run on tracks, which are vintage and not air conditioned. This is the Hernando de Soto Bridge carrying the 6 lane Interstate 40, which is one of about 140 bridges crossing the 3,800km long Mississippi River. It is also known as the M Bridge. Maybe they should get massive sponsorship from MacDonalds and paint it yellow.
We returned to Beale Street to look in the stores. The only continuously run store is A. Schwab. It was opened by a Jewish immigrant in 1876. Anita had a root beer which was way too sweet, and my chocolate chip shake was mostly ice cream, even though I asked for it to be made with half the normal amount.
Our final stop is BB King's where we are listening to live blues and enjoying the best ribs I have ever tasted.
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