Random observations on German culture

We are off to the German town of Speyer, a Roman and medieval city south of here.  It is supposed to be lovely and quite romantic.  I will report back after the weekend.  Hopefully, I will get some good pictures.

Some random things I have noticed about the Germans and my adaptation to Germany:

• The Germans are serious bicyclists/bike commuters.  When I was out in the rain, I saw just as many people on bikes as on a more pleasant day. (There are, of course, plenty of cars). I've become a serious user of my bike at home for running errands, but I would have been in a car that day.  I see them riding after dark a lot too.  Of course, part of it is that most streets have bike lanes that are separated from the cars (by a curb and often parking) and at least visually separated from pedestrians, so it's a lot safer to ride in the rain. I'm also seeing more cyclists with helmets than I have before.
• I really appreciate the way the Germans do their beds.  Just a fitted bottom sheet and then a duvet with a cover (that you change with the other sheet).  A two person bed is two relatively narrow twin mattresses put in a single frame, and each gets their own bottom sheet and own duvet.  You make the bed by folding the duvet in half and putting it the "wrong" way over the bottom sheet.  Takes about 10 seconds.  Of course, changing the duvet cover is not easy, though maybe it is for an experienced German :-)  And apparently ironed bedcovers are important enough to Germans that we get clean and ironed sheets every two weeks in the guest house.  I could get used to that.
• On the other hand, German pillows make no sense to me.  They are big squares -- close to twice the size of a typical US pillow.  While I am sure we have cheap pillows here in the guest house, even in hotels they are simply cotton bats and very soft.  I think the idea is that you scrunch them into the shape you need for your way of sleeping (they definitely can be folded in half and maybe in quarters if that works for you).  I want support in my pillow.
• It's really easy to get used to having some sort of breakfast pastry.  This year, even with the cold, I've been going to the bakery before breakfast, to get them fresher (they and the dinner rolls - brötchen -- go stale quickly), and the line is long, with all the Germans who need their breakfast fix and their daily bread. The idea of a store where the typical purchase is only 1-2 Euro seems undoable in the US, but there are bakeries everywhere, even though many of them have been taken over by chains that bake centrally and just transport the stuff to the individual stores -- maybe for the final 5 minutes of baking.