Come to Eichstätt! We've got awesome architecture! :)

"Guest of Dornbracht? You kind of buried the paid advertising, not.

I thought most blogs had done away with this sort of thing.

...no?, not not

The architecture is beautiful as is the nature outside, but that bedroom! Does nothing for me. Makes me want to get out. It looks completely unfinished with the wood trim and white walls. More reason to spend time outside.

You are certainly not exploring design in Germany. You're just on vacation.

The Traube Tonbach is famous for it's restaurant. Sad that you did not get a chance to eat there or did not find it worth mentioning.

Oh no. Odd-shaped Euro pillows! And no top sheet.

I love Europe but give me good old North American bedding every time.

ok, great opportunity here: what is the top-sheet for? (Seriously!)

@Rural and Rueful, visiting a manufacturer is a pretty common thing in the design industry. The question is, "is the writer paying his or her own way?"

I suspect the second pillow is for between the knees and the top sheet is always the dirtiest thing in a hotel room. Get rid of it.

Top sheet? It is a flat sheet that you put between yourself and your blankets/duvet, instead of this Euro thing of putting a sheet/cover over and around the duvet. Like this:

duvet/blankets
top sheet
<you>
bottom fitted sheet
mattress

I can't deal with the Euro way because I always seem to have a leg sticking out and I get cold.

I can't get with the American bed way. The top sheet just gets twisted and pushed to the side. And the thought that the top bedding isn't really being washed regularly is pretty gross to me. And in hotels where it's all wrapped, I just feel like i can't move. Besides, making a European bed is even simpler. Just straighten the duvet over the bed.

So in Europe you don't take the around-the-duvet sheet off every time you wash it? You just throw the whole thing in the wash? I thought it got removed every wash which meant you had to get the duvet back into it every time well, which seems like a hassle.

I don't know about the top bedding (in NA) not being washed regularly. No doubt it varies among people but I think most would agree it needs to be clean. There are a lot of germaphobes on this continent, after all.

It's not about germs, it's about dust mostly and some body oils. Taking off the sheet that surrounds the duvet, throwing it in the wash and then putting it back on is hardly something I consider a hassle. Less of a hassle than trying to have the top duvet cleaned, especially the kinds that you can't even throw into the wash. Which means dealing with dry cleaning costs and time. Which even if you do it 4 times a year I think can get costly ( especially king size), and yes eww to only then having it cleaned at least 4 times a year. Some people I am sure only have it cleaned ever couple of years.

I'm not afraid of germs, I just like my bed fresh

So your real objection is to dirty bedding; it has nothing to do with top sheets. And it's based on an assumption that top-sheet-users don't keep their bedding clean but duvet-cover-users do.

Thank you, MelissaPauline and all you others, too!
I've been wondering forever why they are called top sheets if really they are in the middle. This method is used in Italy and Spain, too, together with a woolen blanket. And even if these blankets are washed or cleaned regularly they gross me out. I can't *know* or see if they are clean. Linen, however, shows dirt and spots, so I have control over the whole affair.
And yes, we do take off the duvet cover before washing them. (washing them together seems a silly idea because the inner part would never dry before molding sets in, and it is altogether too lumpy an affair.) Even so, my duvet can't be washed together with linen because I wash the former (silk for summer, wool for winter) only with low temperature and the latter with high temperature. And yes, it's a hassle, but during usage that I find it easier to manage because they won't get messy and I don't come into contact with the duvet (or the woolen blanket).

But how do you know if a duvet has been washed whether it's been inside a sheet or over a top sheet? Why assume that only the inside-type duvets get washed regularly? One could take out the duvet, not wash it, and put a clean sheet over it.

Also, why do you think that the top sheet doesn't protect the duvet/blanket just as well as the duvet-cover? Both are just a cotton sheet.

Obviously at home you can wash everything as much as you like, but in a hotel or similar, you really have no idea either way.

So, should I assume that Europeans wash their mattress covers every time too? It would have just as much through-the-sheet skin contact as the duvet.

Well, I don't know obviously. But a clean sheet is somewhat protective, in my opinion.
(btw, I never meant to imply that inside duvets, Europeans, whatever, are cleaner than Americans or anything! This was never my intention and if you understood it that way I am really sorry. My comment was made out of curiosity, not arrogance. The way I feel about top sheets is just my preference)
But I don't get into contact with them. Direct contact, that is.
And, there is no "European" here. In Germany, England, northern France, Sweden ecc. people prefer the duvet method, while southeners use top sheets. (as a general rule, there are exceptions of course)
Cleanliness in hotels is a different matter altogether, I think. I try not to think about it, or I'll be the Monk for a year.

Actually it was another commenter who got the ball rolling with the top-sheets-method-is-dirtier thing. I just though it was weird because with either method, bedding needs to be washed.

Anyway, I can assure you, top sheets get washed. As often as the bottom sheets and the pillowcases.