German Laundry Pt. 2
When I returned, I placed the sheets and towels in the dryer and turned it to an outdoor setting which indicated would take an hour. I thought maybe I should use the cotton setting but it said it would take 3 hours. The german dryers do not vent outside so there is a container that collects water from the clothes as it spins dry. I had to empty the water from the container outside on the ground because I didn’t know where else to pour it. I also had to clean the filter, similar to ours but it is doubled over with the space in between which collects the lint. I had to open the filter to clean the lint, then close it and replace in the dryer. I left again to return to my room where I had to hang all my clothes that I did not put in the dryer. I had purchased a folding drying rack, which is a common household item in Germany. The rack takes up the entire open space in my apartment when unfolded. I covered the entire rack, and hung all my shirts on clothing hangers to frame the rack. When I ran out of room on the rack, I had to hang extra articles in my bathroom. I had wet clothes everywhere. I opened my window and turned on the fan to help with air circulation to aide drying. (I had to do that for 2 days). When I returned to the laundry facility an hour later, the clothes in the dryer were still wet. I dumped the water again and restarted the dryer. After 2 hours, the duvet cover was dry but the towels and fitted sheet were still too damp to use. I put them back for 20 minutes then took them to my room to hang to air dry.
Beds in Germany only use a fitted sheet and a duvet. Even in hotels, the duvet cover is changed between guest so there are no nasty comforters that never get cleaned. I do like the concept of duvets with clean covers for hotels and think that the states should convert to that for sanitary reasons.
After 5 hours of laundry, I was able to put the sheet back in my bed and go to sleep. My room was completely covered with drying laundry until 3 days later when I felt it was safe to put the last articles away.