Where is Jeweler heaven? - outside of N.America?

Sharron,

Of all of the places I’ve travelled overseas, there are only a few
that literally “struck” me as places I was compelled to return to.
The one that immediately lept to mind when I was reading your post
was Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is in one of the most beautiful countries of the world,
surrounded by unspoiled countryside that looks like it hasn’t changed
since Rembrandt lived and painted there. The people are incredibly
friendly and very cosmopolitan, the food (outdoor cafes abound!) is
glorious and more varied than I’ve seen anywhere in the world, and
there is an unparalleled vibrancy to the arts and jewelry
communities. It’s one of those glorious places where you can stand
on the sidewalk with your eyes closed and hear 50 different languages
swirling around you.

You can reach anywhere in Europe by rail (or air) very easily, and
can drive a little over an hour to reach the hovercraft to get over
to the U.K. Couple all of that with tolerant social policies, low
crime rates, excellent government services and institutionalized
environmentalism and you have a “winner” from my perspective.

Best of luck!
Karen Goeller

Does anyone have experience with British Columbia? We have been
considering moving there and would like some first-hand opinions.

Janet Kofoed

Dear Sharron Gray I take it that K.L. meand Kuala Lumpur, and if I
was living there and wanted to move, I would definitely consider
Australia. A bunch of nice and caring people, very little crime,
reasonable house prices, good and cheap social / health security
programmes, not much government interference, and human taxes. You
can pick almost any climate, you would like by choosing where to go
to in OZ. My preference would be Queensland in the not too far
outback, and if it was not for our children - and grandchildren :slight_smile: I
think we would go there rather today than tomorrow. On the other hand,
if you could do with a somewhat colder climate, nice and caring
inhabitants, a lot of tourists in the summer, cheap housing and sky
high taxes, then consider moving to Denmarks Sunshine Island,
Bornholm: We moved here about 18 months ago, and enjoy it every day.
Kind regards from Niels on - guess where.

Just a quick correction to Niels post about Australia - THe tax rate
is outrageous as well as general banking fees. Otherwise he is right
on the mark. I lived in Sydney for 1.5 years and really liked it
alot.

It’s just too bad that Singapore is so expensive because I would
have nominated it for some sort of heaven. I love living here and I
dread the day that I have to re-patriate to the US. (but I do love
the US)

I don’t know how you can stand living in KL. Have you thought about
Thailand?

Cheers-

Hi Janet British Columbia, B.C. Canada is a lovely place to live.
It’s my second choice after Alberta where I already live. Very
similar to Oregon, my third choice. It has a varied landscape mostly
covered with trees of various types depending on where in B.C. you
live. Everything is sandwiched between beautiful mountains.

B.C. has a little higher taxes, except Vancouver area where they can
go exorbitant. The worst thing is that it is more depressed for jobs
than many other provinces. The main industry is wood and since the US
slapped up the extra tariffs on Canadian wood, many companies have
gone belly up. This of course leaves many out of work. Tourism,
fishing , mining and fruit are also big, of which of course the
tourism would be beneficial to jewellery making. There are a lot of
artists of various persuasions throughout B.C.

It has the advantage of generally warmer weather than much of
Canada, though the interior can get much snow during the winter.
There is beautiful rocks to find, hiking, skiing, water sports on the
many, many lakes and just breathing the fresh mountain air. We even
have a few oddities to explore such as the Ogopogo Monster of Lake
Okanogan http://www.vtours.com/kelowna/ogopogo.htm, and the Sasquatch
http://anywhere.150m.com/harrisonsasquatch.htm.

You can grow really nice gardens that have a longer growing season
than in Alberta. You can also grow many kinds of fruit and berries.
Plus there is the island, Vancouver Island, where there is a great
concentration of artists, with the added advantage of a large
tourist visitation, including many wealthy Asian people who
appreciate good art. There is also great selling of the artistic,
unusual and interesting at Granville Island in Vancouver
Granville Island - Vancouver, BC.

Advantage for Americans is that your dollar is worth approximately
$1.50 Canadian.

Where the snow melted to make way for more snow. Apparently until
next week. Yuck. Karen Bahr “the Rocklady” (@Rocklady)
K.I.S. Creations May your gems always sparkle.