schmindigo

Lorraine

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This is the Lorraine, where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. It's been turned into a civil rights museum, but they have preserved the front of the motel, as well as his room, exactly as it was when he was shot, & also acquired the boarding house building across the street where the shots came from. We decided to see this kind of last minute before leaving Memphis; as soon as we rounded a corner & laid eyes upon it, we both unexpectedly burst into tears. I was really not prepared for the emotional impact of being there. You can stand inside & look right out on the exact spot where he fell on the balcony. It's really intense. Having stayed in motel after motel on this trip, I looked at the motel room with a certain perspective, thinking how motel rooms all kind of look the same, & feeling lucky for my relative anonymity, that I get to check out of each motel & keep going on to the next one.