Post by Ella
But first, let me set the scene.
Dinner at Louise. Despite good reviews and being way overpriced (okay, yes, we knew that from the menu pricing), dinner was a major disappointment. To start with, we chose Toast Skagen (a Swedish dish) which tasted like macaroni salad with too much mayo except it was tiny prawns and not macaroni, piled on a thick piece of tasteless toast.
Then we both selected Salmon Escalope. That sounds good, right? Since all seafood we’ve had in Sweden and Denmark and Norway has been perfectly cooked. Still moist but not raw. But this was like salmon from an Applebees. Overcooked, dry with only the tiniest smidge of tasteless sauce.
Here is evidence…these diners turned to metal after eating a meal here. Trapped forever in a romantic moment, they couldn’t yell out “forget this place! Turn back!”.
To recover, we stopped for ice cream. Chocolate and pistachio. The pistachio was the worst ever.
Back at the apartment, I decided it was time to refresh my clothes. And I’ll just mention here that Grubb always waits until I do my load before he’ll do his. Because he’ll learn from my mistakes he says. He’s smart that way.
After laboriously translating the dial settings on the washer from Norwegian into English (okay so I used google translate and just pointed the camera at the dials), I got it going.
An hour and a half later, the wash was done. The Door light went green, but the washer door wouldn’t open. We tried many very clever things, including banging on the handle, before texting our host, Paul.
I looked longingly at my laundry behind the glass of the door. So near yet so far. Woe is me.
By then, it was 10:30pm. Paul responded quickly and gave us a number of suggestions. All of which we’d already tried but we tried again. One solution, Paul texted, involved pounding on the handle. And hit it hard he said. I decided not to confess I’d already done that but I did wonder whose fault it would be if I broke the cheap plastic handle.
He went on to have me try various settings. I asked him to give me the Norwegian words for the settings he wanted us to try and he says “oh, there is a manual in English under the sink”. Ah geez. That would have been useful 2 hours ago.
In the end, he texts “that’s strange”, meaning he has no clue what to do next. I text “I really do need those clothes”. He texts “I will be over as soon as I get the kids settled to sleep”. Yikes, now I feel really bad. But he showed up around 11:00pm with a paper bag full of tools. He is a trooper. Besides that, he doesn’t want a bad review.
In the end, he discovered what I mentioned to him…something inside the door handle is broken. He managed to get the door open by cleverly pressing the upper edge with his thumb while lifting and pulling the door handle with a little twist. I happily rescued my clothes and put them on the drying rack while Paul took the door apart only to find that a piece of plastic has broken off the latch. Time for a new door he says.
From a global perspective, where does a broken washer door rank? Pretty much nowhere. Paul stayed and chatted and also gave us some good restaurant tips. So, it was a wash. Ho ho.
Oh gosh, that sounds a little stressful. I guess Grubb didn’t get to wash his clothes? Luckily, our laundry mishap in our airbnb didn’t turn out too bad: after washing two loads of clothes, I discovered I had been using dishwasher tabs instead of laundry detergent! We did think it strange that they were only half dissolved. But, luckily, everything seemed pretty clean and no damage done to the clothing. (Ah, so nice to type a comment on big screen computer instead of little phone. Very surreal to be back in Albuquerque.)
I brought a few eco laundry sheets (that is laundry soap in sheet form. Because, yep, I’ve made the same blunder about using the wrong detergent. And sometimes,, these hosts don’t provide those things. Although this particular one does have a little of everything.
I was chagrined at first. I thought, okay, worst case, I’ll go buy a crow bar and pry the damn thing open. Once I figured there was an unpleasant but doable solution, I felt better. And then the host was local and eager to set things right.
I know what you mean about it being surreal to be back home. Do you wake up having to orient and remind yourself about where you are?
I was thinking to add about my dishwasher detergent in the laundry debacle: the airbnb host had just left 4 tabs for us in a dish on the cabinet. So it wasn’t in a package. I’d like to think if it’d been in a package I would have been able to tell what it was. But, I’m embarrassed to say, they were pretty much exactly like other dishwasher tabs I have used at home.
Sure glad your airbnb host was able to come to the rescue. (But, I’m assuming you couldn’t wash any more clothes in that machine for a few days?)
It was strange waking up last night in own bedroom. Of course, we probably stayed in 20 or more different places over the last 5 weeks so kind of got used to waking up disoriented. But, that is an interesting point. I think I felt more disoriented last night than I did any night of the trip. But it was probably just from being zonked from 24 hour travel day yesterday.
I am not sure Grubb will chance washing his clothes in this washer but Paul did walk him through the tricky ooening technique and Grubb was able to do it several times. So stand by on that…
I think your host could have left a note on the unmarked pods ;).
I was thinking about how you stayed at so many different places. I think after awhile, my brain would simply blur them all together.
1. I hope you save Louise a bad review somewhere.
2. The upside of Wynette using dishwasher soap is that the clothes came out with no water spots.
3. Kids who need to be settled into bed going to bed at 11 pm? Is this related to that “Midnight sun” I’ve heard about?
4. I assume his restaurant tips did not include Louise.
5. With the extremely effective blackout shades in Spanish hotels you have to memorize the route to the bathroom and the placement of the toilet or you might bump into things.
1. Right. Big warning on the salmon.
2. Extra squeaky clean
3. Ages 9 and 11. Won’t let mom or dad leave the room until they are asleep. Dunno.
4. No. He hadn’t been to Louise. We tried his Italian tip last night. Good food, modest prices.
5. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, my brain pulls up the wrong map. The first toe stub sets me right.