01/03 DAY 16: Vilnius
LAUNDRY ADVENTURE

So, the next morning, I needed to decide whether to do laundry or not. And if so, should I do it in Vilnius or Riga?

I was feeling a bit sick so sitting in a Laundromat sounded ok. I found the address of a place in the Lonely Planet guide. The street was on the mapr provided in the book.

My first plan was to wal the 2-3 miles by foot, with the 10 lb Target bag of clothes. (I looked a bit like a homeless person.) I soon realized that this distance would not be a practical idea, so I found a taxi, who was reading a book whose title was in Russian. Not a good sign.

The conversation was light driving to the Laundromat, as neither my Lithuanian or Russian matched his.

The taxi driver stopped. No Laundromat in sight. The address was Savanoriy prospektas 11A. I gave the driver the equivalent of $5 and told the him “OK.” I’ll find it, thanks comrade.

The tricky part of the address was the “A” in 11A. The store fronts on Savanoriy prospektas were upscale salons and a cool clothes boutique, which I might drop by and check out at a later time.

I walked behind the building. It was dark and grimy. I walked back to the main street and showed the woman as the convenience-kiosk. She would surely know. She did. She pointed behind me, from the darkness from where I had just been. I learned this trip, in Warsaw, to trust people when they give directions.

I saw a lit room that had linens, but no signs and definitely no signs of washers.

I asked an old man in the darkness “A?” He pointed to the linens place. OK.

A customer arrived before me and was sorting out linens, bedsheets, etc. This might work, I thought.

I tried to ask the twenties something woman with dark hair if there were machines for me to do my clothes myself. Same Russian/Lithuanian mix.

Instead of being insistant, I waited for the man to finish sorting his stuff. When he left, the young woman smiled at me and started in gibberish. I had thought about leaving and just wearing dirty clothes, but I didn’t come this far for nothing.

She weighed my laundry. 5KG. She muttered something else, still smiling. She looked a bit uncomfortable about it.

I looked at the form she was filling out. Maybe she needed me to take inventory, like the guy in front of me. I tested the idea. I rummaged through all of the clothing and counted 8 shirts. Eight fingers. She wrote down “8” on a space on her form. Bingo.

Inventory Results

8 Vryiski apatinian marskiniai
10 Vyriskas apatines kelnos (troueiples)
2 Dzinsai kelnes
7 Krokines
1 Kelnes silos
Total 28 pieces

It was a lot of fun counting my undies in front of her. She smiled a bit.

After inventory, she asked me something else. No idea. She tried again. “Normal,” I said thinking she was asking HOW I wanted the items laundered. She paused and pointed to the register. Ah, sure. I’ll pay now, honey. I paid the 24.54 Litas (or $8)

With another exchange, I learned that I could pick up the laundry the following day AFTER 5:00 pm. (I had a clever way of asking this, but I won’t bore you with the little game we played.)

“Ah CHoo!” I said, thanking the woman.

Savanoriy prospektas is a main throughfare which leads back to the old town. For grins, I got into the bus market “centrum” that was heading in the direction I need to go in. The bus turned. Turning bad. I got off and hoofed it. Tomorrow I’ll probably find a map of the cities bus system and take it to and from. Tomorrow, I’ll even pay.

SNACK AT COLLEGE HANGOUT

I found a place called “P” Zona that made me thing of Dave. It appeared to be a popular hangout with the college crowd. In Lithuanian, it said that if you drink Three .5 liter drafts of “Svyturio,” that the price would go down from 3.69 Litas to 1.99 Litas. This sounded like a challenge to me!

I ordered my first beer and a pizza. Since I didn’t know what was on which for language problems, I just went with the traditional one. Good think that I like eggplant!

The interior of the place was totally modern. Yellow walls with abstract shapes painted over the yellow, in a very classy way. The ceiling was a light blue with clouds painted on them. Metailc ropes went at different angles on the ceiling, holding well, placed triangular white “sails.” Lithuanians really have a flair for design, but a bit over the top. Serious. I’ll try to get some more examples with my camera.

I spend a hour or two at “P” Zone, writing in my new leather notebook, reading about the history of Vilnius and drinking Svyturios and watching the attractive collegiate crowd interact.

As it turns out, even with three ,5 liters of Svyturios, I didn’t get my special deal of 1.99 Litas. Oh, well, the total bill for the three beers and one pizza was just over $4.00. I tipped the slender, friendly, English speaking female waitress 20%.

WATER LEAK!

At 3:00 am, I got a call from Kevin. He had checked my house. Casually, he asked me how to turn off the water. Half asleep, I told him.

Apparently, there had been a pipe burst at my house, in Cincinnati..
- posted by Matt @ 12:18 PM