Germany: First impressions (the second time around)

The first, and only other time I've been in Germany, was back in 2000, during my first trip overseas. During that trip I took the train to several German cities (Cologne, Munich, Berlin, Dresden, and a few others in between). On that trip I was pretty focussed on seeing what Lonely Planet (OK, it was Let's Go) back in the day, and perhaps didn't have much time to just sit and observe. Regardless, here are some things I've noticed about Germany, or more specifically, the Freiburg area:

This place is ridiculously cute.

I know that this isn't true of all areas in Germany, but this city and the towns around it have endless cute houses and buildings. The churches and town halls are all ornately decorated. And yes, things are pretty darned clean, too.

Prices are pretty normal, except for the Nutella.

The Nutella here is CHEAP! We're talking the equivalent of about $1.60 per 400 g glass jar. How the people here stay reasonably slim is beyond me. I've easily eaten a full jar in the last 72 hours. I haven't been shopping too much, but the other prices I saw in the grocery store seemed pretty similar to the U.S., and the rates at the internet cafe down the street were actually better than in New Zealand (land of the weak NZ dollar). Here it's about $2.60 per hour for internet access.

The bikes, they are everywhere.

Maybe it's because there are bike paths and bike lanes along almost every road I've seen. Maybe it's because gas is so expensive (about $4/gallon). Maybe it's because the town is so dense that nothing is more than a 10-minute bike ride away. Maybe it's because the biking in the black forest is fun and scenic. Whatever the reason, there are bikes everywhere and there are hundreds of bikes parked at the train station on any given day. This in the land of the autobahn!