Sept 1, 1994
We have a rough plan to leave Normandy and stop in Amiens for a pitstop. Our original itinerary was to find a place to stay around Amiens but we decide that we want to make it all the way to Belgium so we have more time in the morning to go around Bastogne and other places in that area.
Its been a week or so now and as three grown men living in close quarters who have been doing alot of outdoor walking and hiking its past time to get some laundry done. As we near Amiens we decide a large town like this should have quite a few laundromats. John and I have each had a few years of high school French but we are pretty bad and I can’t do much more than ask for “3 more beers please?” and “where is the bathroom?”. I have never done laundry in France or had a class where you pretend to do laundry and that’s unfortunate at this point. In class we practiced ordering soup, catching a train, going to the movies, more wine and baguettes. So it was time to try out my Dad’s newly acquired Radio Shack language translator!
My Dad had figured he would need a language translator at some point on this trip and had purchased a LCD handheld language translator from Radio Shack. Very alpha technology, as it did a few major languages, you typed in a word and it gave you the answer in the other language. So far it had not been put to use but here was its chance with the word “laundromat”. My Dad and brother were excited to try it out.
Type in:
L-A-U-N-D-R-O-M-A-T
Answer:
L-A-V-R-O-M-A-T-I-Q-U-E
Looks good. We get to town and start asking. “Ou est LAVAMATIC” .. “Je Voudrais LAVROMATIC”, “S’il vous plait LAVOROMATIC”. Its as bad as CAEN when we were asking for directions to the Womens Abbey and people thought we wanted women. People are not getting what we are saying and its getting frustrating. Again, at this time in history, there is no YELP or google map for us just the language barrier with our fellow humans to overcome. After a significant number of attempts an English speaking guy overhears us and asks.
English speaker: “What are you trying to say?” “What do you want?”
Us: “We need to do laundry ... what were we saying?”
English speaker: “I have no idea?! BUT there’s a laundromat about a block away down there”
While John sits with the laundry, Dad and I go to check out the Amiens Cathedral about a block away. Amazing Cathedral its really a tall ceiling inside. Thought I saw some Joan d’Arc memorial but wasn’t sure.
Dad enjoyed the Cathedral and we head back to the laundry. I watch the laundry for awhile and John hits the cafe around the corner for a beer. After that, I grab an espresso before we leave since I was about to drive a pretty long way to Belgium.
Finally we are done and on the road. Off to Belgium to find something, we are not sure what really, but we are targeting some lodging to get us within striking distance of the Bastogne area since Dad was all around this area during the Ardennes campaign and the Battle of the Bulge.
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