Some Like It Hot...(March 8, Cont'd)

If you do some casual math (or just read on, and I'll do it for you), you'll realize that by this time we were just about 10 days into our European adventure.  If you memorized our packing philosophy (or refresh your memory here), you'll realize that we were fast running out of clean clothes.  Doreen, the proprietress of Hotel Scoti, had helped us get oriented when we'd arrived the previous evening and pointed out the location of a local laundromat.  


So after taking our dirty clothes to breakfast (thankfully, they didn't eat much), we walked around the corner to the laundromat.  What the laundromat had in proximity, it lacked in economy.  We quickly realized that doing laundry in Florence wasn't going to be cheap, but when you're carrying your clothes on your back for weeks, you're willing to pay a premium to wash what you have, rather than carry more.  


First, we had to puzzle out the token-granting machine.  After a few minutes and some refused, re-flattened, and re-fed bills, we paid 10 euros (~12 USD) to wash three loads of laundry.  Eeek.  Then, we scraped together our coins to see if we had enough to purchase little packets of laundry detergent and still get change from the vending machine, which only dispensed a very limited amount of change.  I thought we had it worked out, until Kee-Min (who was working the dispenser) and I (who was loading a washing machine) had this exchange:

Kee-Min: "I have one packet of laundry detergent, but it won't give us change."
Me: "Right.  It won't dispense that much change.  So just get two bags."
Kee-Min: "Really? Two bags???"
Me: "Yeah, we have three loads of laundry."


I turn around a moment later, and Kee-Min is holding one packet of laundry detergent and, literally, two plastic bags.  Apparently, plastic bags were also available for sale from the vending machine.  Who knew?  In Holly-speak, "bag" meant "little plastic packet of laundry detergent".  Kee-Min, ever the dutiful spouse, followed my instruction just a little too well and purchased 2 plastic bags.  


But what the heck. We were on vacation, and we had two extra bags.  We laughed.  And laughed.  And when an older American couple joined us at the laundromat a few minutes later, we helped them navigate the token and detergent vending machines, then offered them a few extra bags...


We actually enjoyed chatting with this couple, who were traveling through Italy and Spain with a tour group of senior citizens.  We shared some stories, and were once again reminded how fortunate we were to be able to take this trip while we are young, energetic, and able to walk/climb/hike/life our luggage with relative ease.  So - for you readers who are pre-retirement age, infected with wanderlust, and with the financial resources and freedom to take an extended trip: DO IT.  Your life is now, and you have nothing to lose.  


*steps off soapbox*


But our laundry escapades weren't quite over yet.  For those of you who don't know us well, at home, we wash one load of laundry a day, and hang dry *all* of our clothing.  We just don't use the dryer.  But here, our room was too small and our volume of clothing too large for hang-drying to be reasonable.  So we sorted out our heat-sensitive technical gear out, and I went back to our room to redecorate.  Then, we threw the rest of our clothes in an enormous dryer, turned the heat up to "HIGH", and inserted a bazillion euros to make it go.


Now, there was a spell during my childhood when our family used a laundromat regularly; and we used to swear that the dryers were rigged so that they took ~4 cycles to actually dry our clothing.  Apparently, this Florence laundromat missed that memo, because dang, that dryer was hot enough to burn or melt at least 4 pieces of clothing.  For goodness' sake, I had to throw away a cap because the dryer melted the adjustable plastic part. Lesson learned.  In Florence, some like it hot (in the dryer).


But overall, the endeavor was a success: We had clean laundry, and what's a pair of shorts or baseball cap here & there...  


And heck, you all should hang out more often with us.  We can make a morning of laundry an adventure, and I can even milk a blog post out of it...  But, if you didn't really think this was blog-worthy, never fear.  In the afternoon, we headed for the Duomo.  <-- If you're feeling over-achieving, you can read about it on Wikipedia here. Otherwise, come back soon!