A goes to the laundromat

Sounds simple right? Not here. Not for me. I woke up Saturday to sunny skies and had big plans of exploration and exercise. But I had one big problem: I really needed to do my laundry.

I started by brainstorming ways of trying to get all my clothes to a laundromat. I thought about bagging it all up and trying to ride with it on my bike. But I kept imagining slow-motion crashes and all my underwear floating out onto the street like Tibetan prayer flags. I thought about carrying it all, but that sounded miserable. In the end, I settled on putting it all into my big suitcase, which has wheels.

This would have been a brilliant idea had I not had to go up and down 12 flights of stairs, staring with the five flights that lead to my apartment. (I swear, that number is not an exaggeration.)

First, I went headed north on the subway, to a place I found on Google. I rolled up and down every street of the intersection where I got off the subway before I found it. Then there were two problems: 1. It was closed. 2. It was one of those places you bring your laundry into and they do it for you.

So I got back on the subway and headed south, to another area someone had told me there was a laundromat. Again, couldn't find it. I walked around for about 20 minutes. Just when I was about to give up, I saw the sign with the words "Schnell und Sauber" (Fast and Clean) on them, like a beacon of hope on the horizon.

Actually doing laundry was it's own adventure. I think "schnell" is a bit of an exaggeration and I'm not so convinced of "sauber" either.

By the time I finished — three and a half hours after I left — it started to rain. So much for exploration.

Lessons learned: Maybe try the bags next time.