Wednesday, May 13th - Me and Bill

It’s a lovely day and I am in Little Rock, and I have a full day of Bill Clinton world exploring to do.  First, the capital building where appropriately enough, there was a political demonstration on the main steps – a bus tour of union autoworkers raising awareness for ‘buying American’ I believe.  The Capital was much grander than others I’ve seen, Wyoming for example, and at the same time not so big that it lost the feel of a real work place.  I had the feeling that Bill’s energy would definitely have been a force in the place when he was in residence.

Curious to see Bill and Hilary’s home, I drove by the Governor’s mansion – it’s set in a lovely neighborhood full of beautiful old brick houses with lovely gardens.  I quite like Little Rock – it is a nice size with lovely residential areas close to downtown.

Then I was off to his presidential museum – it is stunning - a huge glass structure overlooking the river in the middle of an open park area.  They’ve done an excellent job with the exhibit – provides the history both chronologically as well as by topic area - and even has his daily schedules ... lots of blank 'work' time during the impeachment ....  It is of course, much like his book, a one sided view on history but still, very hard not to appreciate all that was achieved.  Definitely worth the drive to see it!  Like the picture?

I also managed to get in a lunch break yoga class - which was a nice interlude – in a lovely little studio in the middle of industrial downtown Little Rock.  Cliff is not Iyengar certified but definitely teaches in the style – and has a really good understanding from what I could tell.  He’s been practicing for a long time (on the wall, pictures of him with Mr. Iyengar from the 60s or 70s I think …).  Not being certified, he’s caught a little in the Iyengar politics – there are definitely pros and cons of it being such a highly regulated body …

I left by late afternoon for the drive to Memphis – more green rolling hills, beautiful lakes and rivers that seem very full (I've heard a few 'finally the sun' comments ...).