Essential German phrases

The Hessian greeting, used all day and to anyone. Shorter and warmer than 'Guten Tag' and the fastest way to sound like you have been here longer than a week.

An address that says Mainz and means Wiesbaden. Kastel, Kostheim and Amöneburg are Wiesbaden districts on the far bank of the Rhine that kept their Mainz postal names after 1945 — the city that registers you, taxes you and empties your bins there is Wiesbaden.

Over to Mainz — across the Rhine, five minutes by bus or train, and into Rhineland-Palatinate. Same transport network, same conurbation, different federal state and different rules on tax, school terms and tenancy.

Registering your address, legally required within two weeks of moving in, and the gate to your tax ID, bank account, health insurance and residence permit. Wiesbaden does it at the Bürgerbüro, by appointment.

Cold rent versus warm rent — base rent against rent plus heating and service charges. Listings quote cold; your standing order is warm. On Wiesbaden's largely pre-war stock the gap can be substantial.

The credit scoring agency. Landlords, phone operators and instalment sellers all check it, and a newcomer's file is empty — which matters in a city competing for flats with everyone priced out of Frankfurt.

The state capital. Wiesbaden is Hesse's, and the Landtag, the Staatskanzlei and the ministries are all here — while the money and most of the jobs are in Frankfurt, thirty minutes down the S-Bahn.

The 'boiling spring' — the hottest of the springs the city was built on, arriving at around 66°C in the middle of town. There is a public fountain; the water is drinkable, salty and unmistakable.

The funicular up the Neroberg, running since 1888 on water ballast — the uphill car is pulled by the downhill car filling its tank. No motor, no electricity, and it still runs every summer.

The Riesling region that starts at Wiesbaden's western edge and runs along the Rhine to Rüdesheim. Locals treat it as an extension of the city rather than a day trip, and the wine festival in August takes over the centre.

Hessian apple wine — dry, tart and served from a grey-blue stoneware Bembel into a ridged glass. Ordering it is a small local loyalty test; ordering it 'sauergespritzt' with sparkling water is entirely acceptable.

112 for ambulance and fire, 110 for police. 112 works across the EU.