Vancouver best place to live in North America

[Gardenlady]

And late night Madrid is wonderful. Just be careful of the drivers!

 

[zwiebel]

Shopping would have to be Italy, no? Especially if we are talking clothes. I've never met a badly dressed Italian!

Of course! The nicest dress I ever owned I bought in Italy, 15 years ago. I still have it! It wasn't even expensive - just fitted so well, and looked so classy.

 

[zwiebel]

Holland for all my gardening and flower requirements, of course!

http://www.aalsmeerfloristmarket.com/

 

[Gardenlady]

I need to win the lottery so I can visit all these places lol!

 

[Elley Mae]

Imagine, if you could choose a country to be in at anytime of day, or for any purpose.

I'd have breakfast in Paris
Work in Sydney
Lunch in NewYork
Work in London
Dinner in California
Late night in Madrid

I can't decide where I'd shop or 'escape' to, at weekends. Where's the best place for shopping in the world? Not Germany, of that I am certain.

bbm
Dubai ?

 

[~n/t~]

Oh yes, those evil, sneaky Canadians trying to pull one over on us 'Muricans!

Here's a direct link to the survey... Cutting out that wily CBC middle man for you :lol:

http://www.mercer.com/articles/quality-of-living-survey-report-2011

Thanks.

 

[jilly]

Well.....I was born in Vancouver and still live here. I think it's very beautiful. Not many places you can go where you have a beach in the City and can look at the snow capped mountains. Yesterday with the sun shining those mountains were glistening.

Not so sure I like where the City is going with the socialist mayor. We have a huge homeless problem and supervised injection sites set up for the drug addicts to go and shoot up. The mayor is more concerned about putting bicycle lanes in and taking out car lanes which adds to our already congested traffic problem.

And it's very expensive to live in the City. A decent 1 bedroom, one bathroom 350 sq ft condo with no view will cost you around $200,000. A parking space is extra.
The price of gasoline here is the highest in North America. We are taxed, taxed and taxed.

 

[~n/t~]

~n/t~, we are thinking of making Montreal our next family vacation, either driving up or coming via train. I've always wanted to go, but never thought of going with kids help, so give me a quick and dirty rundown of stuff for two teens (boy and girl) and two little guys (7 and 9). Also trying to decide whether to come in winter (kids and DH are all skiers/boarders) or in summer (less weather hassle if we come in late summer).

I'm not a winter person so I'm useless with giving you advice on winter sports. We do have some excellent ski resorts up north. Mont Tremblant is one of my favourites.

If you decide to come in the summer, I would suggest the month of July. Yes, it'll be hot and humid but all our festivals are in July. We have the Just for Laughs (comedy festival ) fun for the whole family. Then there is he Jazz Festival

Here is an excellent link

http://montrealvisitorsguide.com


Give me a shout if you come. I'll be more than glad to show you around. :seeya:

 

[STANDREID]

I wouldn't want to live there because I couldn't legally carry my concealed automatic weapon like I can here.

 

[zwiebel]

Well.....I was born in Vancouver and still live here. I think it's very beautiful. Not many places you can go where you have a beach in the City and can look at the snow capped mountains. Yesterday with the sun shining those mountains were glistening.

Not so sure I like where the City is going with the socialist mayor. We have a huge homeless problem and supervised injection sites set up for the drug addicts to go and shoot up. The mayor is more concerned about putting bicycle lanes in and taking out car lanes which adds to our already congested traffic problem.

And it's very expensive to live in the City. A decent 1 bedroom, one bathroom 350 sq ft condo with no view will cost you around $200,000. A parking space is extra.
The price of gasoline here is the highest in North America. We are taxed, taxed and taxed.

Vancouver is definitely beating Munich in house value. It's over $260,000 for a really basic '1 zimmer' apartment in a no great shakes area. That means it has just one room to live, sleep and eat in - no separate bedroom.

https://immobilienmarkt.sueddeutsche.de/Angebote/kaufen/1_Zimmer_Wohnung-Stadt_Muenchen

 

[zwiebel]

Sorry, I'm English and you got me started on property. In Germany no-one seems to care about the number of bedrooms a property has. They don't list them and quite often don't list the number of rooms either. Just the square footage. In metres of course.

And, best thing....they quite often won't show pictures of a property or provide the full address either. It drives me crazy. Real estate agents also seem to have hours something like:

Monday. 8am -12noon.
Tuesday. Closed.
Wednesday. 12 - 3.31pm. (but closed 2 hrs in that period when taking client to a home)
Thursday. Closed. (It's Thursday, are you mad? Why would we be open on THURSDAY?)
Friday. 8am - 12 noon (but they actually went home at 11.30am when you get there)
Saturday
Sunday - (Why have you put these days in a real estate agents working timeline? That is not in ordnung, as they would say if they saw this. )

Be reassured though. If you beg, wheedle and plead enough, it is possible to find and buy a home in Germany in under five years!

 

[zwiebel]

Last serial post, promise. Scroll to the last, cheapest palace on the page here. The 'Palatial villa Art Nouveau style'. It is not until you get to the very last picture when you click on it that you can actually see this is a huge, historical palace-like building surrounded by woods. For $341,000. (that's the magic bit of the property market here. If it's not Munich, you can get a bargain.)

http://www.bluehomes.com/go.asp?dest=geostartsuche&sp=en

ETA: Ha! But designed so it can't be linked! I should have known. Real estate sales, German style.

This may show just the pics.
http://www.bluehomes.com/_common/diashow.asp?objid=N3430079