Laundry - Lavarie - Lavandaria

In prepartion for this trip Tom and I visited the Monet's Garden exhibition in Melbourne in August. After enjoying the exhibition we sat in a Southbank bar over looking the Yarra sipping a beverage and chatting excitedly about the upcoming trip.  Tom looked at me earnestly and expressed his concern with our trip planning, saying that he was worried that in our schedule we had not left enough time for ...  Oh no, thought I.  What is coming ?  We already had a very tight schedule of sights - what could he possibly be thinking at this very late time that we should add to our trip.  So he went on to explain his concern - ... we have not left enough time to do any laundry.  For a moment, just a moment, I shared his concern before laughing hysterically and assuring him that we would be sure to find time to launder our clothes.

I apologise to those of you who have already heard that story, but I know that many of you who have will want to know how we have fared and be reassured that Tom has not spent too much holiday time worrying about the laundry.  Firstly, our thanks to our friend Robyn who sent along some White King stain removal wipes for us to bring on this trip.  They have proved very helpful - and have the dual purpose of helping remove the red stain my feet acquire when it rains, and my red leather shoes leach dye onto my skin.

Paris

We had a washing machine in the apartment so laundry here was easy.  Especialy after we learned to remove the toaster from the top of the machine in the spin cycle - it only had to fly off once and land on the floor we us to make that minor modification.  Luckily, it was only as we were leaving this accommodation that I read the notice that said the washing machine was not for use by the guests.

Brittany

Our Breton gites was in a holiday resort which had a good laundry with coin operated machines.  It even had coin operated dryers, and after I lost several Euros on the dryers I got chatting to a nice English guest who explained to me what I was doing wrong.  And once she showed me how to use the ON button it was all good.

Spain

In southern Spain no coin laundromats are to be found, so we located one of those lovely places that washes, dries and folds a load of washing, all on the same day, for some ridiculously low price.  We dispensed with the idea of having clothes washed in Marrakech and waited until we got to our apartment here in the marina on the north coast, as we have a machine the apartment.  Terrific.  It had been a few days so I had a big load to put on.  The machine looked simple enough - just a choice of program and an on-off button.  Yes, I was concerned when after two hours it still had not moved from the wash cycle to rinse/spin, but hey these European machines are slow.  After three hours washing, and lots more button pushing it was still washing, but I was exhausted and went to bed.  By two in the morning I was getting worried the clothes would be torn to shreds and I gave Google a try to see if I could find any manuals.  No manuals - but I found some interesting user reviews, the first three of which informed me that the machine was a lemon and the worst washing machine they had ever owned.  Bugger !  I managed to turn the machine off and thought I would try another program,  After setting this off I went back to bed.  8.00am the next morning - yes, still on the wash cycle !  In the end we restorted to manually resetting the machine through rinse and spin, which I believe is how semi-automatic washing machines worked when I was a little girl.  And, after almost 12 hours of washing, Tom and I have really, really clean jeans !

A Parisian Laundromat