Re the German biking culture link, I lived in Munich for five weeks and was also astounded at the degree to which the city is laid out with bicycles in mind. The road in front of our house, too, was a no-through-cars bicycle path–more oriented, I gathered, for recreational riders than commuting. I also remember countless times hearing that “ching!ching!” followed by “Aufpassen!” It’s a lovely city.

Afterwards I lived for two months in a rural farming community in northern Bavaria. The village was not, of course, designed for bicycles, really, but tons and tons of people did bike, and cars were generally considerate. Fairly often I would ride the 6 km to and from the nearest large town on a narrow rural highway. And even though the highway was narrower than our Tucson streets and the speed limits higher, drivers always gave me ample room and I never had one of those heart-stopping, too-close-for-comfort moments.