In Paris, but we need help

[adegiulio]

So, we are here in Paris at the Hotel Vendome (thanks Mr. Talbott for the advice. This is the second leg of our honeymoon, and we're having a blast...

The problem is, we need to do laundry. At 5 euros for underwear and 10 euros for a shirt, the hotel service will cost me dinner at L'Arpege...I asked the people at the front desk, but they don't know. I tried googling, but couldnt find anything relevant. Does anyone know of a good internet based directory for here in Paris, similar to yahoo yellow pages, or superpages.com?? Or even a decent web portal, like Yahoo is in the US.

Help!!! We're down to our last underwear!

[reachej]

Try www.pagesjaunes.fr

[SuzySushi]

I'm not familiar with laundromats in the area, but try asking people in a local shop (like a small grocery store or charcuterie). Landromats in Paris quite often don't have visible storefronts, but are located in courtyards in between apartment buildings! When we lived in Paris for six weeks, we actually had to have our building concierge sketch us a map because we had passed the entrance alley many times never dreaming there was anything more inside! There were a whole bunch of "service" stores such as shoe repair, copy shop, locksmith, etc.!

Laundromat in French is "laverie automatique." You'll either need plenty of coins to operate it, or they'll sell tokens. Be sure to put your washed laundry into the separate wringer-spinner for a cycle before using the dryer, or the dryer will take forever!

There are also "laverie-blanchisseries," service laundries where you drop off your laundry and they wash & fold it for you. They usually charge by weight. They're more expensive than self-service laundromats, but worth it if you don't want to hang around.

[Busboy]

I am not familiar with your hotel, so this may be an unhelpful suggestion but, if you are in or near the 7th, not far from Invalides and the Eiffel Tower, there is a laundromat on the corner of Rue Valadon and Rue de Grenelle. If you're looking on a map, ignore the much larger Boulevard de Grenelle, which runs perpendicular to the river; the rue is smaller and parallels the Seine.

Given that you are posting on eGullet, it will be worth going to that neighborhood because the street parallel to Rue Valadon is Rue Cler, which is an excellent market street and well worth exploring. Can drivers will recognize neither street , btw. The nearest metro is Ecole Militaire. On the corner of Rue Cler and Rue Champs de Mars, there is a spectacularly classic cafe, the Cafe Marche, where you can kill time during the rinse cycle.

PS, I am not positive that Rue de Grenelle is the cross street but, if you find the Rue Cler market, you are looking for the street that marks the northern (towards the river) end of the market.

I seem to recall the 5th being full of laundromats, towards the eastern edge of the arrondissement, once you get away from the Notre Dame tourists, towards the Institut du Monde Arab.

Edited April 23, 2005 by Busboy (log)

[adegiulio]

wow!!! thanks everyone for the help. the yellow pages link above worked great! we found a landromat a block and a half away...and oh darn, there's three cafes surrounding it...

Love eGullet!

[Bux]

. . . we found a landromat a block and a half away...and oh darn, there's three cafes surrounding it...

Love eGullet!

←

Life's a bitch when you have to kill time in a place like Paris. Those who disagree with that, will usually do so with the argument that there's no place like Paris.

[SWISS_CHEF]

Next time wear knit sweaters and wash them in the bathroom sink along with your underwear and dry them on the radiators just like everyone else in Paris!

Tourists!