Around the Neighborhood

We are so fortunate to have found this apartment in a prime location. We are within easy walking distance of many of the places we want to visit.

The street in front of our building is part of the San Lorenzo Market, which has many small booths, most selling leather goods. These days there are very few customers, but most of them are there every day anyway. In the early morning the street is completely empty, but by 7:00 we begin to see the vendors towing their carts into place from wherever they are stored overnight. They stay until evening; later on the weekends when there are more people around.

To the right of the previous picture is the San Lorenzo church, just a block away. Below is a video I made of the bells. We hear them frequently throughout the day. The area to the right is restoration work on the exterior of the Medici Chapels.

The laundromat we go to is just a short block behind us (more or less). There are four small washers with instructions above in Italian and English. They only accept €1 coins -- 3 per load.

The dryers are enormous, so I can easily combine two washer-loads into one dryer. Fortunately, these take 50¢ coins as well as €1 and €2. (We have to carefully save up change -- the change machine in the laundromat doesn't work.)

One of the days I was waiting a man came in and loaded a huge load into the one large washer (you can see it above). Unfortunately, he put his coins into the dryer (sitting on top), pressed start, and walked away. I sat there watching his laundry sit without moving and the dryer going round and round with nothing in it. Poor guy!

I take my Kindle and read while the laundry is working. My view across the street is a lovely gelato and sweet shop. I took this on one of the rainy days.