Since my last post I’ve attended an all-night birthday party …
visited Strasbourg …
… heard an Irish music concert by The Kilkennys …
… joined the lads for a wee session after the show …
… moved out of my beautiful home in Freiburg …
… taken the TGV to Paris, and settled into a charming little apartment on the Ile St. Louis.
But those stories will have to wait for another day.
Today I want to talk about doing laundry. Specifically, doing laundry in Paris.
Doing laundry in Paris can be a bit of an ordeal, because you have two basic choices: You can schlepp your dirty clothes to a public laundromat and spend hours under swirling-clothes-induced hypnosis.
Or, if you’re lucky enough to have a washing machine in your apartment, you have to figure out how to use it. Yesterday afternoon was devoted to the latter.
After a week of hand-washing I was eager to give my clothes a good, thorough soak. “Where is the washing machine?” I asked the owner of my rented apartment. “C’est juste là,” he replied, motioning in the general direction of the microscopic kitchen.
Nothing in all of my life experience up to this moment could have prepared me for what I saw when I peeked around the kitchen counter.
Yes, that’s right: You have to crawl under the kitchen sink to do your laundry.
To my dismay, I immediately recognized the machine as the same model I’d done battle with last year. And now I’d have to find all of those knobs and buttons in the relative under-sink darkness! My concern must have registered on my face. “It’s a good thing that you’re small,” said the owner. “You should have no difficulty.”
Ah, how I love Paris …
HeideBlog 
Aaaaahhh… how good I remember your previous washing ordeal!!! 😉 Good luck!!! You never know what your going to get next, right? 😀 **
Nope, Xandré, I never know what I’m going to get next! But for me, that’s part of the fun — and the adventure! I’ll let you know how the clothes turn out. 🙂
Strasbouuuurg! Jealous!
Ah, bah … oui ! 🙂
You have been busy !
Love the space-saving kitchen. 🙂
I’ve had a microwave on a shelf underneath the draining board before, but never a washing machine behind the sink.
When we had a cat I converted two thirds of a double cuboard to hold two bins and the other third cuboard I kitted out with a low shelf where the cat used to jump into to eat her food … then when she was finished eating, I could close the door to keep the flies off. 🙂
I have indeed been busy! And like you, I *love* the creative ways my space-starved European friends have found to cram in life’s little necessities. (Like my stove/oven/dishwasher combo. Brilliant!)
I love the way you are smiling from ear to ear in every photo, in every country! 😀
Good luck with the laundry though – remembering your battles last time… But oh, I think I’d be prepared to crawl under the sink to do my laundry if it were in an apartment as beautiful as that. Is that seriously on the Isle St.Louis? With those gorgeous beams? Swooon…
“Smiling from ear to ear.” Yup, that pretty much describes me, DB! You’ll be happy to know that I finally vanquished the washing machine and did two loads, so I no longer stink while I’m smiling from ear to ear. 🙂 And yes, the apartment is as beautiful as the photos suggest. Just ask Mr. French Frye, who came over yesterday to see the place before we started our historic walk together. Oh, how I wish you could have joined us … but in September, perhaps? Please?! 🙂
I was with you in spirit, honest. And fingers crossed for September…
Fingers crossed, indeed! xo