The Joy of a Laundromat when Traveling

I know that this may sound a little odd, but we were so excited when we stepped out our door in Lucca and the first block from our B& B in this very beautiful, old Italian town was a self serve laundromat. We could actually have everything clean in a little over an hour. 

They had great directions but we were just getting ready to leave and go find a small store to buy detergent in when two ladies came in and spoke enough English to tell us the laundry soap was put in automatically with the water. Since then we have looked for them in every town large enough to have one. It makes our life so much easier and I am sure we smell sweeter too!

While waiting at a laundromat in Florence we looked out the window and across the street was a Tea House, so off we went. The windows of the tea house were open and our table looked right into the laundromat. 

This was our first experience with doing tea this way: you select the tea leaves, and they bring them to you in your cup. The tea leaves are very expensive and of a very high quality. You put them in your pot and they pour boiling hot water into the tea pot but they said they never drink the first cup poured. It is always poured out. She poured it right into the tray they sat on and it went under the bamboo lining it. Then she poured the boiling water all over the outside of the teapot before leaving you to enjoy the tea. She said she would refill the pot with boiling water as often as we liked. The pots are very small as are the cups which insures a hot cup of tea each time you pour.

A wonderful way to wait for an hour or so!