Awkward Laundry Moment in Berlin

Well, after nearly three weeks in Europe, our clean clothes finally came to a close (hah, the words sound very similar). Instead of wandering around Berlin in freshly soiled underpants, we decided to try our luck at the local laundromat. And I say try our luck, because the machine you use to start the washers is more like a slot machine than a washing-machine. But before jumping to that, we must first tell you the story of the inpenetrable door...

So after a block and a half, we finally found ourselves stading in front of the nearest laundromat from our short-lived apartment. I was carrying the bag of dirty laundry, so Ebe tried to open the door for me, but alas, to no avail. Thinking that she is merely a girl and lacking the proper strength to open the door, I gently laid down our bag of undesirables and attempted to open the laundromat door. At first I pushed like a good lad would, but the door didn't budge. Then I found the inner-devil in me and tryed like hell to open the door, but, much like Ebe, with no luck. We then eyed one-another trying to figure out what the hell we did wrong? Perhaps you need a key to open the door? Or maybe it's plain old closed... Then a nice German came walking by, and I asked him if you needed a key to get in. He looked at me funny, said you just open the door, and then without a grunt opened the door! Ebe and I looked dumb-founded at one another, said Danke, and slid into the laundromat feeling like idiots. Why the hell didn't the door open for us? Was it because it sensed our non-pure German blood? Turns out we just didn't rub it the right way I suppose.

After finally being allowed entrance into the all holly laundromat, we were confronted by yet another set of obstacles. Figuring out which washers were functional, how much it cost, where to put the detergent (and what kind of detergent, powder or liquid), and did they have any dryers? Around 9 Euro later, we had a good amount of wet clothes, a handful of dry jeans and shirts, and a ton of confusion about what had just happened to us.... Needless to say, I think next time we'll be ready to storm the murky moat of the laundromat, and not only sack our clothes, but the laundromat itself!