[Jignesh]

Continuing with some more pictures of Heidelberg:





























































Thanks,

[sajusherief]

Jignesh, It's such a beautiful photologue and I can see how much you are enjoying your life in Germany. Keep going and enjoy your stay in Germany.

[Jignesh]

Hello All,

One of the frequent question that I asked is availability of Indian food stuffs here in Germany.

I am here since last seven months and it has been 6 months for my family and we can buy most, infact all of the Indian food stuffs here. Right from Red chilli powder to wheat flour to turmeric powder is available in Indian / Pakistani / Asian stores. Even coconut powder, Indian snacks & incense sticks are available here. Also most of the vegetables that we normally eat are available for almost entire year.

Also there is a online vendor in Germany which offers home delivery of your staple needs if the order above certain Euros.

Going back to places that I visited here in Germany, on one cold morning in March, I went to Frankfurt Zoo as I need to comfort my seven year old daughter.

More information about Frankfurt Zoo here:
http://www.zoo-frankfurt.de/schnellz...n-english.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...urt_Hesse.html

The place was easily accessible by underground train and bus, infact the underground line U-7 drops just outside the Zoo entrance. The place is very well maintained the the animals were in good health. There are various sections like reptiles, under water animals, nocturnal animals, birds, etc.

Some pictures from the Zoo:





























































Done with 30 pictures, more in next post.

Thanks,

[Jignesh]

Continuing with further pictures of Frankfurt Zoo:

























































There is also a pet section there domestic animals are open for children to come close to:





Just a few more pictures of Frankfurt zoo in the next post.

Thanks,

[Jignesh]

Few more pictures of the zoo:



Twice in a day there is a 30 minute water animal show which is good to watch:









There is also a very good children's play area:





Thanks,

[Jignesh]

The city I am based is Wiesbaden, which is approximately 40 kms from Frankfurt and we frequently visit Frankfurt. Frankfurt is home to Euro Bank and one of the global cities of Germany. It is a classic place to witness historic and modern construction, which building dating more than 125 years old to latest ones existing side by side.

The city is developed around river Main and there are most of the happening places remains around the river sides.

In the current and next post I will present some pictures of Frankfurt along with ones that we clicked from boat ride on the river Main.





























































Thanks,

[Jignesh]

Continuing with some more pictures of Frankfurt:











A unique way to lock ones relationship. I saw similar thing also in Paris:









Despite the best public transport (Trains, Buses and Trams) Cycling still remains preferred mode of transport of many people here. It is not usual to spot people going to offices in cycle during summers:











Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Central Station), Germany's busiest railway station, gateway to Europe (Opened in year 1888):

































Thanks,

[Jignesh]

Mainz Carnival.

3rd March 2014 was Mainz, Monday was day of Mainz Carnival. Mainz Carnival is one of the biggest carnivals in Germany. It mainly consists of parades and celebrations. Many parades depict Political humor and almost entire city is out on the street to celebrate.

The history of the carnival dates back couple of centuries ago. More information on Mainz carnival here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainz_carnival

Pictures from Mainz Carnival:

[Jignesh]

Continuing with some more pictures of Mainz Carnival:

























































As soon as the Carnival was complete the authorities started cleaning the streets. Surprisingly next day morning the streets were completely neat and clean.

Thanks,

[gauravdgr8]

Nice write-up Jignesh!

Good to see that you are enjoying your stay along with work.

How about schooling? You did mention that private schools are costly. Could you give a price break up?

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

Good to see that you are enjoying your stay along with work. How about schooling? You did mention that private schools are costly. Could you give a price break up?

Hello Gaurav,

Thank you.

Well (Local) German schools are free for anyone who resides in Germany, including Foreign workers. These school are definitely well managed and organized.

But since as of now I am not a permanent resident I need to put my daughter in English (International school) here and in most cities there are one or two International Schools.

My daughter is going to Frankfurt International School (www.fis.edu) in Grade 2 and below is the fee structure (per year):

Tuition Fee: 17,280 Eur
Re-Registration Fee: 300 Eur
Total Fee per year: 17,580 Eur per year.

In addition to above, one has to pay capital assessment fees of 11,000 Eur, in parts for two years, which means 5,500 Eur per year.

Thus effectively total fee for my daughter for Grade 2 will be 23,080 Eur.

Official details about fees available here: http://www.fis.edu/page.cfm?p=380

Luckily for most of foreign workers the schooling is taken care by companies, otherwise given our allowance structure it is not possible to afford such fees.

I also know of another International school in Erlangen, where the fees are almost 40% less than Frankfurt International School. The details available here: http://the-fis.de/admissions/fee-schedule/index.html

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Jignesh Mehta

[sushantr5]

Hi Jignesh,

Your thread has been really helpful for me to understand the living in Germany. I was really confused whether to go to Germany with family and kid of 4 years. I have few questions,

1. I want to understand taxation and related things. What will be in hand per month lets say for example 65000 euros per year pay package?

2. What is average living cost? like including travelling and sight seeings...

[lsp]

Hey Jignesh
Good to see your thread about Germany. I had no idea you had traveled to onsite.
Well Germany is a very nice place. In my few visits to Germany I found the people efficient and hardworking. The German Railways (D Bahn) which I have used extensively was my most preferred way of transport.

The pictures of all the places are really nice and it seems your family esp the daughter is enjoying her time there. Did she have any initial struggles?

I know of the allowance the govt pays you for each child in many European countries and frankly I have seen it being abused by the immigrant families where I was in Europe. Imagine a family of <some African country> political asylum seekers which consists of husband wife and their 6 children. Neither the husband nor the wife do any work. They just live off the allowance they get in a dingy house on the outskirts which is dirt cheap.

Sorry for steering offtopic. Enjoy your stay and keep posting the pics. Good luck!

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

I was really confused whether to go to Germany with family and kid of 4 years. 1. I want to understand taxation and related things. What will be in hand per month lets say for example 65000 euros per year pay package?

Hello Sushant,

I have posted the living costs in first few posts of this thread. Probably you have an offer in Bavaria area with a global sports company. Request you to send me a PM and I will respond to all your queries.

The most important thing to consider is schooling for your kid. The local schools are free (and good too), but they are all in German language. If you wish to put your kid in English medium then only option is International schools (fees are more than 12,000 Euros per year) and I have posted the link to fee structure of an International school in Erlangen (http://www.the-fis.de/) in one of the post in this thread.

Originally Posted by lsp

Good to see your thread about Germany. I had no idea you had traveled to onsite. Well Germany is a very nice place. Did she have any initial struggles? I know of the allowance the govt pays you for each child in many European countries and frankly

Hello lsp,

My mistake, I have not kept in touch with you since past couple of months. Regrets.

Indeed Germany is a wonderful place to stay / work and as you said people here are real hard working (Infact during last few weeks most of us and client partners start working in morning at 8:30 am & leave office after 7 pm).

Even I travel via DB Bahn and service is really good with seamless integration with Bus / Trams.

My family is really enjoying here and truthfully they had absolutely no initial struggles. Despite of not knowing local language, my wife is going out everyday right from day one and she is able to manage well.

Regarding the child allowance, probably there is a misuse as I too spot many migrants with more than 3 children.

Thanks,

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

1. I want to understand taxation and related things. What will be in hand per month lets say for example 65000 euros per year pay package?

Sorry to jump in the discussion.

I have used some assumptions (Tax as Class 1) to calculate the in hand salary which comes to ~3100€ Netto for 1 child in BW area; for a Brutto salary of 65000€ per year. You will get a more accurate estimate if you give in the correct details here - www.brutto-netto-rechner

Cheers
Spike