Day7-Rotterdam: Anita's Quick Wash

**I'm posting from a wasserette, which is a laundrymat. I'm waiting for my wash to get done, and there is free internet.

This morning Andy had a little time before his film watching, so I took him sightseeing. He has been taking some really cool video, so he wanted to film some of the stuff that I've seen. I took him to "the statue", the Cube houses and "The church". The Cube houses and the church were closed. I guess I hit them on the right days, as they are only open on the weekends in January.

I was going to take him to the stroopenwafle stand, but it wasn't even there. We were full from breakfast, so he can probably have one in Amsterdam. I hit another drug store. Not a Aromateek, but more like a Bartell's. They were super helpful with picking the right headache medicine. Hopefully, the 1000mg of whatever she gave me will kick in soon.

I showed Andy the Hema store, but I don't think he think's it is as neat as I do. I bought a pink storage box thing to pack some fragie gifts I'm bringing back. Super exciting.

I dropped off my packages and headed to Anita's Quick wash. The free R-dam guide book that I picked up at the information stand listed it as a place to do laundry and it is very near our hotel. I remember when I was in Paris and I was going to do a load of laundry. I walked in the door, and turned right back around. It was so imtimidating. This time I figured, what the heck, what's the worst that can happen.

I think the lady in the laundry was Anita, the owner. I asked if I could wash a load, and she said "yes...something in dutch". Some how I figured out she was saying, 'yes, but you will have to wait as there is no washer open". So I said I would wait and sat down. A few minutes later she pointed to a washer that she had just taken clothes out of. I put the laundry in and shut the door. I just kept staring at all of the words. I wasn't sure what to do next. There did'nt seem to be a place for money, let alone detergent (which I had none). She saw me struggling and put detergent in. She then asked me another question, which I figured out to be "do you want fabric softener", when she poured out some liquid into a cup and put it into the washer. She said something about "14 minutes", and I said "sure". I figured she would know the wash cycle better than I. I gave her 6 euros for the load and sat down.

It seemed that the book was wrong, this wasn't a place where you could go to do your own laundry. There were bags and bags and bags of laundry and she was a one woman washing machine.

The wash cycle seemed to be done, so I went to open the door. It said "stop", for pete sakes. As I tried to pull on the door, she came over and said "no" and the machine starting going again. For my future reference it says "done" when the load is finished.

I had to wait for a dryer, but as soon as one was ready she let me know. A new, young gal must have took over the shift and Anita left. She waved goodbye as I sat with waiting for my drying. I watched the new gal shove the clothes into the washers wearing elbow length pink rubber gloves with polka dot trim. I wanted to ask her where I could get a pair, but she was busy working.

I thought I should take out my drying, because I was holding up the dryer and the loads were starting to back up. I didn't want to have another washer experience, where I needed to push buttons and wait to take the clothes out. I told the girl that I thougth my drying was done and I wanted to take out my clothes. She said, "open the door".

Success. I did my laundry.

I headed back to the hotel, because I still had a splitting headache and wasn't feeling 100%. I hope the Gilmore Girls is on.

**I met Andy at 6pm for one last dinner at our favorite place, De Unie. We both had the awsome pasta with mushrooms, parm and truffle oil. I thought an espresso might help with the headache and it seemed to have helped. We were going to catch a 7:45pm film, so we wandered around while Andy took some footage of random stuff.

The movie was called The Return? or something. It was black and white Russian found footage. It was pretty neat. I had the choice between this movie at 82 minutes or an over 2 hour depressing Russian film. I chose the shorter one, which can be a safer bet for film festival films (or Russian).

We'll pack it up tonight, and tomorrow we head to Amsterdam. The trip should get really fun now that Andy and I can hang out more. I't been great so far, but it will be a little more exciting when I'll have someone to share the sights with.

I'm feeling much better. I think I'll be happy when we get to Paris, as they have passed the no smoking law. I am so used to not being around smoke, that it really bothers me! Or maybe because people smoke like chimmneys here.

I have to say, this hotel is probably the cleanest on the planet. There is always someone around cleaning something.

Good night!