Betsy's Blog

  Welcome to  Germany ‼️🇩🇪 Upon arrival in Dusseldorf, this golden German car was on display at the airport!😲 We are so excited to visit our son's family. David and his Dutch wife Marcha both work in this historic, but modern city. Their nine year old son Jimmy helped me write this Blog. He plays the trumpet🎺 and soccer at his international school where David is a teacher. ❤️  Dusseldorf is a beautiful city with a mixture of historic and modern buildings. 'Dorf' means village in German. However, Dusseldorf is hardly a village. It is the seventh largest city in Germany with over 600,000 people. We walked through the historic and modern neighborhoods. The main street Konigsallee is located near the luxury shopping and the historic town square. 🛒🛍️ We enjoyed Jimmy's favorite Maritime Museum on the Rhine River. The museum was built to resemble a wooden ship full of boat models from Roman to modern times. 🛶🚢  Jimmy wants you to know that, "Dusseldorf is a reall...

Wow and double Wow!! We walked by this photo shoot early this morning on a stone bridge in Venice. What a beautiful Italian city! It has 118 islands with 400 bridges connecting them. It is picturesque with brick stones and outdoor markets. The center of the city is Piazza San Marco that sits on the waterfront .🚣 You can take a $100 gondola boat ride or a $5 water taxi through the canals. It is like a time tunnel into the past. 🍝 The history of this unique city began in 420 B.C. when it was a muddy swamp. It has always been a trading center with its access to the waterways. Silk, tea and coffee were popular items to trade long ago. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 🌎 Venice was conquered by Napoleon in 1797. It is still difficult to get goods in and the rubbish out of the city. It is also an expensive city to live in. 🇮🇹      Morning coffee is a treat in the tiny cafes that open at 6 am. We watched  groups of men come into the coffee bar drinking espresso o...

  Slovenia is a beautiful Mediterranean country full of history, seafood and ancient buildings. Every city is built around a town square with a church, tiny shops and restaurants. Visitors roam around the historic cities sightseeing. 🇸🇮 There are many guided tours and buses available in this scenic, historic country. 🚢 We are visiting old friends who grew up near the capital city of Lubijana. Katja was our babysitter many years ago when we lived in Holland and England. She is now a successful business woman with a wonderful husband Marco and two adult sons. Time flies by and it was so special to see them again. 🥰 Lubijana is a Mediterranean city with rich history. In 1991, Slovenija became independent from Yugoslavia and is now a member of the European Union and NATO. 🇸🇮 We visited many local wineries in the hilly countryside. The Owners have their own vats and wine bottles. This winery also makes and sells rock wine holders and keychains. The local owner proudly showed us ar...

So happy to return to one of my favorite countries! In 1979, we first moved to The Netherlands. My oldest and youngest child were born here. My second son David has a Dutch wife and a half Dutch son. They drove up from Germany to visit us for the weekend. I have many Dutch tales to tell. We started our Dutch visit in a tiny home in the historic village of Zaandijk. The town is surrounded by windmills and cobble stone streets under a clear, blue sky. Our grandson Jimmy is now eight years old! We had so much fun catching up with his family who we haven't seen since before the Pandemic. Jimmy goes to an International School in Germany where our son David teaches. 🏫 His Dutch mother works in a German Hospital. 🏥 We are enjoying the Dutch treats full of memories. We went to a cheese shop that offers free samples of over a hundred different kinds of cheese. Amazing !🧀🍪 I was happy to visit my favorite grocery store 'Albert Heijn' and buy more cheese, yogurt and stroopwafels. ...

  We flew into Dubai late at night and the city was lit up with tall skyscrapers in the middle of a sandy desert. Dubai is home to over 3 million people, has the second most five star hotels and the tallest building in the world. 🇦🇪 Dubai began as a small fishing village in the 19th century. Now it has 96 shopping malls filled with deluxe designer stores. There is a mixture of the old and new in this international city. Citizens are dressed in both traditional robes and modern fashions. 🥻👳‍♂️ Everyone seems to speak English here. I found a laundry, a hairdresser and a huge Mall the first day. It is hot, sticky and crowded here. People are thriving and dressed well with fancy cars and designer purses. 🚗👛 Shoppers can ski at the Mall and have snowball fights for $100. We watched the snow fun through the glass window. The tourists were like children having snowball fights. I grew up in Michigan and don't need to pay to play in the snow. ❄️⛄ Dubai is a country of contrasts. There...