The WSJ has the most unusual general interest stories, usually planted on the bottom of the front page.
Today's gem? How different pillows are in Germany, and why, and what to do about them.
Yes it's behind a paywall, just letting you know about important matters.
Phred!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Best. Laugh. Today. More on the subject (unless it's the same article):
I love my 80x80cm down pillows that I brought back from Germany. They are good for bunching up any way you like and always poof back out to their plump square space the next morning. I’ve brought back 6-8 other pillows for family over the years. To this day I can’t stand a hard or overfilled pillow and don’t even get me started on those foam neck lifting “pillows”. Love my German square pillows.
Kathy, the kid crawling over the gate and using the pillow as a landing pad is great
There are no "German pillows". That's, sorry to say, simply nonsense and a topic for people who look at German hotels with the eyes of Katherine Mansfield ("In a German Pension"). There are many variations between a traditional pension (a type of accommodation that is, sadly, dying out) and a chain hotel like, say, Dormero, who are proud to have a "sleeping concept" of their own.
sla091 I don’t understand about no “German pillows”. Having just spent another month in Germany and a few hours in department and bedding stores I’d say 1/4 of the pillow choices were still the 80x80cm pillows with the rest being rectangular pillows. I bought duvet sets (3) and all came with 80x80cm pillowcases. It is rare to find the square size in hotels these days but someone in Germany is still buying the square, down pillows besides me. I don’t find this particular size in any other country except Germany and Austria.
The term "German sacks of nothingness" from the article is amusing me much more than it probably should...
I had to think back and finally looked at my photos to refresh my memory. Probably half the places I stayed (out of 9) had rectangular pillows and the others had the large square ones (very prettily plumped with the decorative crease down the middle).
So I'm with you, Mona - I actually liked the square ones. They were comfy and soft and thick and you could pretty much shape them however you liked. And it felt really good to sink down inside one. I never thought about buying some to bring back - guess I will just have to travel back again.
The square ones are in French homes, too, along with the traversant, a kind of long sausage-roll pillow upon which the square ones are propped. I don't remember if hotels have them. If you buy the square ones, don't forget to buy the pillow cases, too.
Sorry, I love my feather pillows. Perhaps that is the reason why I have no back problems? Laying flat is healthier than having your head propped up.
The article was rather juvenile and really not very funny.
I’d say 1/4 of the pillow choices were still the 80x80cm pillows
@Mona: Yes, about 25% of the stock, that would be my estimate as well. But then that is hardly "the (contemporary) German pillow" (just as little as the "sausage-roll pillow" is typical of French hotel beds these days, even if you can still find them in the traditional Hôtel de la Gare). To suggest that, as the article does, is nothing but rehashing cultural stereotypes. In any decent hotel, you can ask for a different pillow if you can't manage the existing one (I sometimes do). If, on the other hand, people stay in a country inn for 70€/2 including breakfast, they also should accept that what is offered is somewhat traditional and not make fun of it.
Funny that we were just discussing adaptation on an expat forum. To complain so much about a pillow, you have to wonder if the person adapts in other ways.
Anyway, in France I think the use of square pillows is closer to 70%, based on what's for sale in the stores and online. Since we have rectangles at home in France, sometimes I have to search hard to buy rectangular cases. All family members in France have square pillows. I don't pay attention in hotels.
I love my feather pillows. Perhaps that is the reason why I have no back problems? Laying flat is healthier than having your head propped up.
I like sleeping with my head raised (I use 2 feather pillows), but I do not have back problems. I think there are any number of reasons people have back problems, including genetics. And it may be healthier in general but not for people with digestive issues or sleep apnea. Most doctors recommend that people with these issues sleep with their head higher than their body.
