This will be a short post. I'm off to Palermo tomorrow and I may leave the Astoria sooner than I wanted, just to be sure I can make my airport connections from Bologna's Centrale train station. As I write this, my clothes are spread out all around my bed, on the shelves and flat surfaces, anywhere I could put them. Italy is a great place to visit, but not always so easy for doing laundry.
Now, I could've sent my stuff to the dry cleaners, but that's 5 Euro for pants, 2 Euro for t-shirts, etc. Really adds up. But then so does the coin operated machines that don't work all that well, either. The folks at the front desk told me about a self-serve laundromat near the train station, so I packed my knapsack full of socks and underwear and the usual stuff, and walked about 15 minutes to the train station.
Needless to say, things got complicated right away. The washer didn't work at first. This other guy who had just come in started banging on the buttons and opening and closing the door until it started. Great. Then I couldn't figure out how to get the dryer to work. Meanwhile, someone else came in and he couldn't get his machine to work and I helped him. There are instructions on the wall, in English and Italian, but that doesn't mean that the machines actually work. And I ended up doing two cycles in the dryer and my clothes were still wet. So back to the room, spreading everything everywhere and cranking up the heat.Clothes are drier now, but I probably can't really pack things until the morning, which I'm not happy about because I always like to pack the night before and just leave.
But I guess I'm learning to go with the flow. I leave earlier than I wanted and I pack my bag in the am, like I didn't want to.
And where do I go tomorrow? Sicily, Palermo. 55 and rainy tomorrow, sort of like the weather in Northern Italy. OK. Go with the flow. Got my umbrella, coat and boots. Palermo, here I come.
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