@@100100freak lol this is funny to me because just yesterday in the store a grandma held up the line because she couldn't count the Euro coins. I stopped using cash all together and just pay with my phone now. So most Croatians are struggling. But it's nice that we don't have to exchange the money when going abroad anymore.
What the video does not mention is the haptic features of the euro notes. The denomination can be felt like an engraving and the different sizes of the notes allows blind people to identify the value (using a special tool they can fold the notes around to determine the denomination).
There are 2 series, the original and the Europa. The bills you have are the latest, the europa series. The first gen iq quite rare now, but is legal tender and you can use it. About the coins, the front side is the same in all the Eurozone, but the back side is different from state to state, and the states made a lot of different backs and special series. But the front is always the same. All coins, regardless of the back, can be used in the whole Eurozone.
Funny thing, a couple of months ago when getting some Euros from an ATM I got a 10 Euro note that looked weird, the paper almost felt fake. Took me a while to realize it was a 10 Euro note from 2003 still in circulation. Already forgotten that there was a design change. 😅
Didn't watch the Video yet, but Eurobills are actually made from a mix of paper and cotton. If you accidentally get them in your washer with your laundry, they are not damaged as bad as money made from (still special) paper.
Joel, for your travels in Europe, it will also a lot easier with just one currency. As for souvenirs, yes the coins have the advantage of being small. Otherwise don´t pack too much clothes. In my experience (I´m 64) clothing is the most practical souvenir you can get. Even years later, you will put on a sweater, for example, and kindly remember where you bought it. We have a lot of practical clothing, that also looks good here in Europe, you will find a lot of good things in Out Door Shops, you can use for a long time, are easy to wash and dry. OK, enough rambling, but you get the drift. I once bought a light pullover in Cape Town, made in South Africa. I loved it dearly, I wore it for many years until it literally fell apart. Maybe if you come to Baden-Wuerttemberg, Stuttgart, give me a call, and I will show you a bit of our beautiful county, maybe even a restaurant in the oldest house in our area. It is from the 1500s. Elmar from Baden-Wuerttemberg.
And if you'll come to the Ruhrgebiet, I'll be here for you!!!😂 No joke! I guess, many of your German followers will be eager to ease your resident and show you everything you want to. Feel free to contact us little helpers.
I dont know what everyone means by boring. I think those bank notes look so beautiful. Great colors and great designs. I've been to many countries in the world but more often than not do they have actual boring banknotes like the US and Japan. Loved being a multi billionaire in Vietnam though.
A lot of people complain about the Euro ever since it's around ("everything gets more expensive/costs twice as much now", etc.) and even though I understand their point and too saw the drawbacks of the Euro when it was introduced (I was a teenager back then), I must say that I absolutely LOVE the connecting aspect of it, the thought that I could visit many other (European) countries and just pay with the money/people in other countries use the notes/coins/currency I also use in my country... I don't cease to be amazed by that (plus the Schengen agreement)! And I also love how the coins kind of mix up - that even if you don't get the chance to travel much, you still happen to find coins from other countries like for instance Greece or Italy in your wallet. How cool is that?
Exactly. When we were Kids, my brother and i used to collect coins and our first set of coins (the normal circulation coin sets) was almost entirely made up of coins we had received as change, for example when buying ice cream. thus whenever we bought something and got coins back as change the irst thing we would do would be to check which treasures we had gotten this time. (I'm still suprised by the amount of portugese 10 cent coins here in south west Germany). Of course there were some that we never got with this method (Vatican, Monaco, San Marino mostly).
4:13 we USED to have 500 euro bills, but the new series does not have the 500 bill, and the 500 bill is slowly being retired, as many shops did not accept these because the denomination was too large, and the bills started to get used a lot in criminal circuits for moving large amounts of money physically. With the new series the biggest note is the 200 euro bill.
One/more feature(s) not metioned: - increasing size to represent the value, so blind people can differentiate them easier - edge stripes are are spaced differently for each note and are feelable, so blind people can differentiate them easier, too ...
Fun fact: A city in the Netherlands used the bridges on the Euro bills as modells for severall pedetrian and bicycle bridges in a new developed housing area - so the bridges exists.
Hi Joel, the Euro is a wonderful currency, so practical. My first UK-Euro backpacking across 17 countries was with Francs, Marks, Pounds, Krona, etc. Every time one changed countries was a hit on the exchange rate. Footwear: waterproof hiking boots, sneakers/runners, and light sandals for beach/shower. Cheers, John in Canada
There are a lot more security features. The Europa hologram is actually a fairly transparent window (at least on >=20EUR bills), you can also easily feel that this window is not as thick as the paper. Then there's a small hidden metal strip (about 1.5mm wide) which shows the value in small diigits in backlight . And one lesser known feature: When looking at the bill in infrared light (e.g. night vision camera with IR LEDs), some color gradients especially in the large digits switch hard from visible to almost invisible.
If I remember correctly from the introduction classes for the police force in The Netherlands, there are 35 security features in the notes. Many are not known by the public.
I forgot, have you watched the "This is Germany" video by Dr. Ludwig? It shows you a ton of places. The places are named in the subtitles and if something looks interesting, you can look it up or ask the crowd.
The lines at the front/back on the left/right side are for people with eye problems. Every note has another lining. So you could feel the walue of the note. (The dark lines)
When you visit Germany, I recommend you to travel by train between places that are a bit further apart. It's just the easiest way to travel, and if you book your tickets in advance, they are not that expensive.
It depends. If you only want to see cities, I agree - but to see places that are a bit out of the way, like castles, having a rental car just for some sections of your route will make your life considerably easier.
Easiest? Nah. It's the fastest on some routes, and the most ecological, but easiest is definitely a car. It's door to door, accomodates any luggage with ease, doesn't have a fixed schedule, doesn't get crowded, stops when and wherever you want it to, and you don't have to take out all your stuff every time you stop. There's two cases where rail actually is easier: in the inner city where parking can be hard to find, and when you want to go on a non-cyclic hike. But for the latter, you're still very restricted in your choice of route, so why bother? Still, especially when travelling between cities that have a good ICE connection (ideally Sprinter), the faster travel may be worth it. But not for the ease.
@@drsnova7313 I don't believe Joel will be able to rent a car. Most car rental companies will not rent to anyone under the age of 25. But there may be exceptions.
@@yannickurbach5654 Rubbish! Train is most convenient, bus will go where trains don't and he will drop dead when he sees the price of petrol! Add to that, unless he got his licence in a car with manual gearbox he will have a job finding a car he can drive - automatic cars for rental are like hen's teeth and cost the earth.
Strange they say Sweden will start using the Euro when we have had a referendum that said no. And so far there seems to be a majority in Sweden's Riksdag that also say no to the Euro.
Joel, when you do take Euros with you from the US, make sure you get bills of €50 or less. There are a LOT of stores in Europe that simply won't accept €100 bills or more. Also look out for the coins. I think in Germany the 1 and 2 cent coins are still used, but you can't use them in The Netherlands. When you buy groceries here, the bill will be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents 🙂
It's not that bad, at least here in Austria you can use the 100€ at most places and if you can't, you just hit up the next grocery store and they are going to give you change :D
I think it`s great that the Euro is acurrency within Europe. Very practical, because you can pay within in most countries within Europe. I can still remember if we wanted to go on vacation to Italy, France or Spain you first had to order money in the bank for the respective destination you wanted to go to. By the way, San Marino at night in Italy is so beautiful with its many lights.
The first letter in the serial number of a the first series of euro banknotes indicates which country issued the banknote. The first letter in the new, second series indicates which printing company printed the banknote. Two of them are based in the UK.
Hi, if you are going to visit Hamburg (as you mentioned earlier about the video of the Miniatur Wunderland), I would suggest to spend AT LEAST 3 days there. 1 day for sightseeing (combo-ticket doubledecker bus + ferry) + min. 1 day Miniatur Wunderland + 1 day "digesting your experience". ... nb : 1 day at Miniatur Wunderland is NOT enough because it just might give you a short glimps of it all ;)
The 500€ was not used in daily shopping but very often in illegal transaction. Many shops doesn´t accept 500€ bills because they haven´t enough change money in the registry and criminals used it to transport great value in a small number in bills. 50.000€ are only 100 bills. The 200€ will also desapear in near time for the same reasons.
Ok, illegal is illegal, no matter what makes it illegal, but most numberous cases were actually tax avoiding crimes, instead if serious drug crimes or thievery. Many people purchased, repaired cars and sold them off at home or were focused on doing just repairs on cars (for example) as a second job, without officially and professionally doing it. So obviously they didn't pay taxes for their services. It were European tax collectors, who wanted the 500€ bill to disappear, not the police.
if you really want to learn about Germany and Europe, get yourself a student visa and study for a semester or two. As for money, you can go a good way with a debit card. I never have more than 50 € in my pocket. Supermarkets take debit cards, credit cards are not much of a thing in Germany.
Huh? Supermarkets don’t take credit cards? Which ones? Rewe, Edeka and even Lidl and Aldi do. I think Globus does accept credit cards as well. Smaller stores often don’t accept credit cards, but my favorite bakery, ice cream parlor and fruit and vegetable stand at the market (Wochenmarkt) accept credit cards and „mobile phone payment“ (I forgot the correct name for that).
If you travel to Europe, make sure you have a Debet and Credit card with tap (wireless) capabilities. It's just easier. Also don't forget always to decline currency conversions (let your bank do the conversion)
@@semiramisubw4864 First, traveling without a Credit card makes absolute no sense. That was the case 30 years ago and is still true today. The big difference in the past was that debit cards from different continents and even different countries were not compatible. This has improved a lot in the last 10 years. Normally you use your debet card for small payments and redraw cash from ATM. Credit card for bigger payments because often there is some type of buyer protection, insurance and extra warranty. And Americans credit cards have even more perks.
Germany isn't as focused on cash as it was before the pandemic. According to a statistic from the German federal bank in 2017 about 74% of all transactions were cash. In 2021 that number had dropped to 58%. During the course of the pandemic lots of smaller vendors introduced card or mobile payment as an option. The most commonly accepted form of card payment is debit though. Credit cards will often be declined.
When you're in Germany make sure to look at the backside of the coins you get to see where they are from. There are so many great cities in Germany. Berlin, of course, Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne and Munich would be my first suggestions, but of course there are many more... If you are in Munich, Salzburg (Austria) isn't far either. Great city!
You can get euros ‘out of the wall’ (Bankomat) at most banks. You should have a look at the last Dutch bank notes (gulden) before they switched to Euro’s. Those were really beautiful bank notes.
Funfact: to make the €-bills glow in UV-light they use a rare earth called Europium. And if you want to see some history in Germany, visit the Rhineland and come to Cologne. Over 2000 years in one city.
The usual security check in the stores here in The Netherlands consists of them using a marker with special ink that isn't visible on the correct paper. It's super quick to check for fakes that way
@@Jade-ns9tg fair enough ^^ I wasn't aware, I only just moved here last year. We never adopted the euro in Denmark, where I am from, so there's a lot of those small things that I am not aware of still
@@Jade-ns9tg where ? when i pay with higher notes they mostly use this scan thing where it rolls in and out, small device kinda. Never seen this ink thing actually besides NL.
@Semîramis UBE i'm used to the pen from Düsseldorf i guess....can't really remember. Also some friends told me about it from there work. But i also saw the old scanners like Rusty said.
What I think he should have mentioned is that there are also 2€ commemorative coins. Each country has different sets of commemorative coins or if there is some kind of an anniversary, event in Europe, EU they make it into a coin. Eg. When there was 10th anniversary of Euro they made a special 2 € coin design that had the same visual for every country, and they just added the name of the country in their native tongue to the top. Eg. Ireland has Éire written on it, Slovakia has Slovensko, Slovenia has Slovenija and so on. During the Olympics in Athens and Turin they made a special 2 € as well.
You mentioned that the size of the 10 euro bill is smaller than the us bills. Did you realize that the euro bills have different sizes? The more valuable ones are bigger. With different sizes and colours they are easy to recognize and hard to confuse.
Well, this is timely! I'm heading off to Paris in September for two weeks. My first overseas trip since 2006, so this is good to know.. Noddy goes overseas, ha! Joel, appreciation for this video presentation, appreciation for you! Blessings!
I'm from the Netherlands and most places that still accept cash, don't accept 100 and 200 euro bills. I don't know if Germany is the same, but it might be worth keeping in mind.
@@aliciag.7777 furniture stores usually handle big amounts, although I doubt JPS is going to buy furniture on his holiday in Germany. Do stores that handle small amounts, like book stores, also accept large denominations?
Up to 100€ is often ok. But 50€ is better. I don’t know any store that doesn’t take 50€. I know he would not buy furniture. It was just to show what kind of stores did take the 500€. Most ATMs also only have 5 to 50€ notes. As these are so most common ones. But since corona a lot of the smaller stores also switched to card payment.
The 100 rarely is an issue. Most shops are flooded with 50s as many ATMs default to not mixing smaller bills when drawing 50/100/150/... Euros, so giving change is not an issue for them. The 200 is another issue; cashiers aren't familiar enough with them to notice fakes, so they won't accept them unless they have to (e.g. for purchases between 151 and 200 EUR).
The reason behind bank note changes is to flush out hidden cash.. Under the mattress hoards of notes, black market and stolen monies. Removing the €500 note will also be for money laundering reasons. A pile of notes will now be 5 times as large, causing problems in moving large amounts of cash too. The British pound gets a makeover occasionally for "counterfeit" avoidance, but generally it is to flush stockpiles out...
I've actually been using almost no cash for a few years now. Of course, there are still the one or other small store that only accepts cash, but overall it doesn't seem to be a problem for me anymore.
Yes the Euro is great and helpful. It makes life easier but some of the really nice bank notes are gone. The 50 Gulden banknote from the Netherlands for example. Those with the sunflowers.
In Sweden we had a 10000 SEK note (1000 dollars) until 1991. Now the biggest note is 1000 SEK (100 dollars). Sweden is supposed to introduce the euro but chooses to delay it even if they fulfill the criteria.
Dude you didn't get an old note . The ones shown already are the slightly modified (the "new" ones). The old 50 for example had the "50" way on the right side - which moved more towards the center.
Fascinating! I'd forgotten that Cyrillic is used as well as Greek & Latin alphabets. I also didn't know about the latest security features. I currently have €20 + €5 plus change in my euro-wallet from my trip to germany earlier in the year - but fortunately QR-code order at the table or contactless Android Pay is now the norm, so I don't feel the need to carry so much cash!
They did the 500 bill note because of us Germans, because we are so fond of cash and a lot of us even pay bigger bills (like for a fridge e.g.) in cash :) I'm an exeption, I pay almost everything with plastic =)
And every Euro note has a different size and the lines on the side. The coins have different sizes and surfaces on the rim, so blind people can very easily know which kind of money they use. But if you ask any (older) German, we all loved! Our D-Marks, because it was the hardest, most valuable currency of Europe, before they invented the Euro. Every country was eager to receive the german D-Mark, because of very little inflation.
The euro is more practical, but I miss the German mark. Especially the coins xD And especially the 5 mark coin. I think it would be cool if there was a 5 euro coin. With coins you can almost feel the value, while paper is just paper. Who wants to fill a treasure chest with paper?
*Fun facts* - while the idea of a European currency was still a project, it's working name was ECU acronym for European Currency Unit, and (intentionally ?) pronounced like the French Middle-Age gold coin Écu. The name was eventually changed to Euro because "ECU" led to some nasty jokes in some European languages. - because of different grammatical marks of plural according to languages, it's spelled Euro on bank notes, not Euros nor Euri. However Euros is acceptable in day to day sentences.
Heyho, nice Video. Wouldn't have thought this is so interesting! But, ... you seem to not have watched Geography Now Germany yet. For a TH-camr interested in Germany, that's a needed video! Have a great day!
Check coins! When the currency changed it took quite some time for coins to circulate between countries, so we checked every coin we got in our hands to see if we got one from another country, trying to figure out where it was from and what it represented. *.*
the euro banknotes actually have different sizes! the 5 is the smallest and the 200 (or the old 500) is the biggest! so the 10€ note you have is not the standard size because there is none!
Hello Joel. I enjoyed the old Italian notes with all the zeros. Also some countries seem to be sure not to meet the criteria. Even some German people miss the Mark (sorry could not resist "dad" joke). EB did a reaction to this chap's zero Euro video, which I enjoyed. Did you spot the bits of France on other continents. It must feel very much colonial to have Euro in South America for example. You should look at that sometime when you cover France.
How about some big cities in the different areas of Germany? Like for instance Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich (depending of course on how much time you intend to spend in the country)?
Since Covid many businesses and counties throughout Europe are moving closer to cash free. Personally I haven’t carried a cent of cash for about 3 years, I just don’t need to anymore. Here in Austria 99% of outlets take card payments. There are even bars and restaurants that ONLY take cards. It’s the way forward. In 10 years we will all live in a cashless society.
Pls, don't forget to eat all the recommended german food. There are lots of vids on the net. By the time you will visit us, the are a lot of "Volksfeste" all around, maybe you find it interresting.
Hey man, pls make a reaction on football fans USA vs Europe. Because Football (for you soccer) is an essential part of the german culture as well. They love the sport here and it’s just amazing to experience this passion in a stadium. If you are coming to Germany try it out😉😅
Some 2€ coins are collectors and they can be worth a lot of money, especially early series with mistakes, those of some small countries or special issues. There are web sites where you can see which ones are worth what. Recently, I saw a German 2€ coin worth 250.000€.
Hi. When you will say that you was in all four corners (points of the compass) here in Germany, you must visit Berlin and Goerlitz for the point in the east, Aachen and Cologne (Köln)for the point in the West, Kiel in the North. include the two seas that Germany have (North Sea and Baltic Sea) for the point in the North and Munich (München) in the south for the point in the south. And you know in Munich is the biggest folk and beerfest of the world 🌎. And: in Bad Duerckheim is the world 🌎 biggest wine fest.and I life 40 kilometer away from Bad Duerckheim
and just by the way, that many only accept cash is not true. That used to be the case 10-20 years ago. Since the pandemic, many people have regularly paid by card, even in the supermarket. Even my favourite Chinese takeaway has a card reader if you don't have it handy. But cash is still so widespread here in Germany because technology can also go on strike. Then the cashiers also have to accept cash. Especially since cash also gives you a better overview of your finances. If you don't have any cash, you can't spend any more. Because at most banks, every transfer and every direct debit now costs something, and that adds up to a lot. Last year I had over 100 euros in bank charges in one month because I paid so often with my card. The coins can be collected. On the one hand, there is the general Germany motif with the Brandenburg Gate, the German eagle and a lor leaf. But now each of the 16 federal states has its own motif on the 2 euro coin. I'm only missing Saarland, Thuringia and Hamburg.
You're missing a bit of perspective here. The comparison is the US, where absolutely every business and even individuals having a yard sale are accepting credit cards, but on the other hand, cash is rejected by a growing percentage of businesses. If you're in the wrong corner of the States, you could starve while holding a bunch of $100 bills. An American will assume that every business accepts credit cards and some accept cash, something that will cause them trouble in Germany.
Some countries dont meet the criteria. That is a half truth some countries dont meet the criteria by choice since they have no wish to switch. Like sweden they had a vote wheter to switch or not. Not switching won. but we do not have a exception to not join so we do not meet the criteria so we do not need to switch
It was not a nightmare, handling the different currencies! Actually, it was part of the experience when travelling around Europe. There are in fact more downsides connected to a European single currency, than there are upsides.
The odd is: Even there is a 200€ note, and it is an actual, valid banknote, you won't find anyone who takes it! They're afraid of it is counterfeit money. So be shure to split them in a bank, if you have some.
I don't know where you are from, but I do pay a lot with 200€ notes (I'm from Germany). Cars, spare parts, repairs, electronics. I never encountered any issue with using these notes, unless I want to pay at a food truck, a fast food store or some other super tiny business.
@@fliplefrog8843 Gas stations in Germany are known to not accept 500€ bills (alongside many - or even most - stores and businesses). But 200€ were accepted by them so far, wherever I had the opportunity to do so in the past. But I am sure that I saw at least one or two that had a sign saying, that they don't accept 200€ bills either. So maybe it's a growing trend to ban them as well. I usually always pay with card on gas stations and rarely use cash for that purpose, so it's not even impossible, that they all don't accept 200€ notes at this point anymore and I just didn't realize, to be honest with you about gas stations.
If you‘re going to germany and Berlin is allrready settled, then I would like to suggest Munic for being the total opposite to Berlin and then Frankfurt am Main, because it‘s a pulsating city, the finnancial heart of europe with a unique architectural scenery. Please be sure that Munic will be one of the most expensive cities in germany.
Everybody, who doesn't like the Euro banknotes because they are boring is highly welcome to give them to me! I am happy to take that burden away from your purse.
Croatia already introduced the Euro starting this year.
yes and i love it. I go visit next month and look forward not to calculate everywhere I pay something
@@100100freak lol this is funny to me because just yesterday in the store a grandma held up the line because she couldn't count the Euro coins. I stopped using cash all together and just pay with my phone now. So most Croatians are struggling. But it's nice that we don't have to exchange the money when going abroad anymore.
@@Hosigie Question from a french here, what faces the croatian govrenment decided to put on the coins ?
What the video does not mention is the haptic features of the euro notes. The denomination can be felt like an engraving and the different sizes of the notes allows blind people to identify the value (using a special tool they can fold the notes around to determine the denomination).
There are 2 series, the original and the Europa. The bills you have are the latest, the europa series.
The first gen iq quite rare now, but is legal tender and you can use it.
About the coins, the front side is the same in all the Eurozone, but the back side is different from state to state, and the states made a lot of different backs and special series. But the front is always the same. All coins, regardless of the back, can be used in the whole Eurozone.
Funny thing, a couple of months ago when getting some Euros from an ATM I got a 10 Euro note that looked weird, the paper almost felt fake. Took me a while to realize it was a 10 Euro note from 2003 still in circulation. Already forgotten that there was a design change. 😅
My father would travel a lot for work so I was aware of the various currencies in Europe. I must say that I like the design of the Euro.
Didn't watch the Video yet, but Eurobills are actually made from a mix of paper and cotton. If you accidentally get them in your washer with your laundry, they are not damaged as bad as money made from (still special) paper.
Joel, for your travels in Europe, it will also a lot easier with just one currency. As for souvenirs, yes the coins have the advantage of being small. Otherwise don´t pack too much clothes. In my experience (I´m 64) clothing is the most practical souvenir you can get. Even years later, you will put on a sweater, for example, and kindly remember where you bought it. We have a lot of practical clothing, that also looks good here in Europe, you will find a lot of good things in Out Door Shops, you can use for a long time, are easy to wash and dry.
OK, enough rambling, but you get the drift. I once bought a light pullover in Cape Town, made in South Africa. I loved it dearly, I wore it for many years until it literally fell apart.
Maybe if you come to Baden-Wuerttemberg, Stuttgart, give me a call, and I will show you a bit of our beautiful county, maybe even a restaurant in the oldest house in our area. It is from the 1500s.
Elmar from Baden-Wuerttemberg.
And if you'll come to the Ruhrgebiet, I'll be here for you!!!😂 No joke! I guess, many of your German followers will be eager to ease your resident and show you everything you want to. Feel free to contact us little helpers.
Prior to the €uro, Germany had the Deutsche Mark (1€ = 1.95583DM). Back then, we had a 1000DM Banknote.
Yes we had, but I never had one :(
@B Erulan
I got to hold one once. A 1000DM note, and a 500€ banknote as well.
I dont know what everyone means by boring. I think those bank notes look so beautiful. Great colors and great designs. I've been to many countries in the world but more often than not do they have actual boring banknotes like the US and Japan.
Loved being a multi billionaire in Vietnam though.
A lot of people complain about the Euro ever since it's around ("everything gets more expensive/costs twice as much now", etc.) and even though I understand their point and too saw the drawbacks of the Euro when it was introduced (I was a teenager back then), I must say that I absolutely LOVE the connecting aspect of it, the thought that I could visit many other (European) countries and just pay with the money/people in other countries use the notes/coins/currency I also use in my country... I don't cease to be amazed by that (plus the Schengen agreement)!
And I also love how the coins kind of mix up - that even if you don't get the chance to travel much, you still happen to find coins from other countries like for instance Greece or Italy in your wallet. How cool is that?
Exactly. When we were Kids, my brother and i used to collect coins and our first set of coins (the normal circulation coin sets) was almost entirely made up of coins we had received as change, for example when buying ice cream. thus whenever we bought something and got coins back as change the irst thing we would do would be to check which treasures we had gotten this time. (I'm still suprised by the amount of portugese 10 cent coins here in south west Germany). Of course there were some that we never got with this method (Vatican, Monaco, San Marino mostly).
4:13 we USED to have 500 euro bills, but the new series does not have the 500 bill, and the 500 bill is slowly being retired, as many shops did not accept these because the denomination was too large, and the bills started to get used a lot in criminal circuits for moving large amounts of money physically. With the new series the biggest note is the 200 euro bill.
One/more feature(s) not metioned:
- increasing size to represent the value, so blind people can differentiate them easier
- edge stripes are are spaced differently for each note and are feelable, so blind people can differentiate them easier, too
...
Fun fact: A city in the Netherlands used the bridges on the Euro bills as modells for severall pedetrian and bicycle bridges in a new developed housing area - so the bridges exists.
I like that. The Netherlands trolling the Euro.
@@hertelantje I wouldn't exactly call it trolling, but it appeals to the Dutch sense of humor.
I miss the 1000,- DM (Deutsche Mark) note 😂
Hi Joel, the Euro is a wonderful currency, so practical. My first UK-Euro backpacking across 17 countries was with Francs, Marks, Pounds, Krona, etc. Every time one changed countries was a hit on the exchange rate. Footwear: waterproof hiking boots, sneakers/runners, and light sandals for beach/shower. Cheers, John in Canada
Yes, it was a nightmare. I always returned with coins that I probably couldn't use for years or ever. And price comparisons were very cumbersome.
There are a lot more security features. The Europa hologram is actually a fairly transparent window (at least on >=20EUR bills), you can also easily feel that this window is not as thick as the paper. Then there's a small hidden metal strip (about 1.5mm wide) which shows the value in small diigits in backlight . And one lesser known feature: When looking at the bill in infrared light (e.g. night vision camera with IR LEDs), some color gradients especially in the large digits switch hard from visible to almost invisible.
If I remember correctly from the introduction classes for the police force in The Netherlands, there are 35 security features in the notes. Many are not known by the public.
I forgot, have you watched the "This is Germany" video by Dr. Ludwig? It shows you a ton of places. The places are named in the subtitles and if something looks interesting, you can look it up or ask the crowd.
The lines at the front/back on the left/right side are for people with eye problems. Every note has another lining. So you could feel the walue of the note. (The dark lines)
When you visit Germany, I recommend you to travel by train between places that are a bit further apart. It's just the easiest way to travel, and if you book your tickets in advance, they are not that expensive.
It depends. If you only want to see cities, I agree - but to see places that are a bit out of the way, like castles, having a rental car just for some sections of your route will make your life considerably easier.
Easiest? Nah. It's the fastest on some routes, and the most ecological, but easiest is definitely a car. It's door to door, accomodates any luggage with ease, doesn't have a fixed schedule, doesn't get crowded, stops when and wherever you want it to, and you don't have to take out all your stuff every time you stop. There's two cases where rail actually is easier: in the inner city where parking can be hard to find, and when you want to go on a non-cyclic hike. But for the latter, you're still very restricted in your choice of route, so why bother?
Still, especially when travelling between cities that have a good ICE connection (ideally Sprinter), the faster travel may be worth it. But not for the ease.
@@drsnova7313 I don't believe Joel will be able to rent a car. Most car rental companies will not rent to anyone under the age of 25. But there may be exceptions.
@@michaelmedlinger6399 Also Joel's licence probably does not permit use of a manual gearbox and automatics for rental are like hen's teeth.
@@yannickurbach5654 Rubbish! Train is most convenient, bus will go where trains don't and he will drop dead when he sees the price of petrol! Add to that, unless he got his licence in a car with manual gearbox he will have a job finding a car he can drive - automatic cars for rental are like hen's teeth and cost the earth.
I don't understand why they call the Euro dull .They are beautiful and colorful.
Just compare them to the pre-Euro Dutch bank notes.
Strange they say Sweden will start using the Euro when we have had a referendum that said no. And so far there seems to be a majority in Sweden's Riksdag that also say no to the Euro.
Exactly. Sweden definitely meets the economic criteria, you just don't want it.
Sweden didnt have a official exception like the uk(before brexit) and denmark. They will be forced into the euro.
@@racingweirdo Sweden won't be forced as they slipped through the cracks. Poland, Czechia and Hungary will be forced in due time.
Joel, when you do take Euros with you from the US, make sure you get bills of €50 or less. There are a LOT of stores in Europe that simply won't accept €100 bills or more. Also look out for the coins. I think in Germany the 1 and 2 cent coins are still used, but you can't use them in The Netherlands. When you buy groceries here, the bill will be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents 🙂
It's not that bad, at least here in Austria you can use the 100€ at most places and if you can't, you just hit up the next grocery store and they are going to give you change :D
Similar in Ireland, most places round up or down.
I want this system too, 1 and 2 cents annoy me a lot.
I think it`s great that the Euro is acurrency within Europe. Very practical, because you can pay within in most countries within Europe. I can still remember if we wanted to go on vacation to Italy, France or Spain you first had to order money in the bank for the respective destination you wanted to go to. By the way, San Marino at night in Italy is so beautiful with its many lights.
500€ note was discontinued because it's only practical relevance was crimes and money laundry 😅
The first letter in the serial number of a the first series of euro banknotes indicates which country issued the banknote. The first letter in the new, second series indicates which printing company printed the banknote. Two of them are based in the UK.
Hi, if you are going to visit Hamburg (as you mentioned earlier about the video of the Miniatur Wunderland), I would suggest to spend AT LEAST 3 days there. 1 day for sightseeing (combo-ticket doubledecker bus + ferry) + min. 1 day Miniatur Wunderland + 1 day "digesting your experience". ... nb : 1 day at Miniatur Wunderland is NOT enough because it just might give you a short glimps of it all ;)
The 500€ was not used in daily shopping but very often in illegal transaction. Many shops doesn´t accept 500€ bills because they haven´t enough change money in the registry and criminals used it to transport great value in a small number in bills. 50.000€ are only 100 bills.
The 200€ will also desapear in near time for the same reasons.
Ok, illegal is illegal, no matter what makes it illegal, but most numberous cases were actually tax avoiding crimes, instead if serious drug crimes or thievery. Many people purchased, repaired cars and sold them off at home or were focused on doing just repairs on cars (for example) as a second job, without officially and professionally doing it. So obviously they didn't pay taxes for their services. It were European tax collectors, who wanted the 500€ bill to disappear, not the police.
The individual colours of the euro- notes can help you to quickly see how much is in the billfold 👛
if you really want to learn about Germany and Europe, get yourself a student visa and study for a semester or two. As for money, you can go a good way with a debit card. I never have more than 50 € in my pocket. Supermarkets take debit cards, credit cards are not much of a thing in Germany.
Huh? Supermarkets don’t take credit cards? Which ones? Rewe, Edeka and even Lidl and Aldi do. I think Globus does accept credit cards as well.
Smaller stores often don’t accept credit cards, but my favorite bakery, ice cream parlor and fruit and vegetable stand at the market (Wochenmarkt) accept credit cards and „mobile phone payment“ (I forgot the correct name for that).
@@jennyh4025 really? I didn't know. thank you. I corrected it.
@@monikadeinbeck4760 I use mine regularly to remember the PIN. So I have to know where I can use it. 😉
If you travel to Europe, make sure you have a Debet and Credit card with tap (wireless) capabilities. It's just easier.
Also don't forget always to decline currency conversions (let your bank do the conversion)
credit card for what ?
@@semiramisubw4864 you need it to book some hotels in advance.
@@semiramisubw4864 Hotels and car rentals often only accept credit cards
@@semiramisubw4864 First, traveling without a Credit card makes absolute no sense. That was the case 30 years ago and is still true today. The big difference in the past was that debit cards from different continents and even different countries were not compatible. This has improved a lot in the last 10 years. Normally you use your debet card for small payments and redraw cash from ATM. Credit card for bigger payments because often there is some type of buyer protection, insurance and extra warranty. And Americans credit cards have even more perks.
You can pop over to Holland and visit the place where the scale model of each landmark shown on the Euros is located😅
YUSS! BERLIN! Hope you have a great time here! :D
Germany isn't as focused on cash as it was before the pandemic. According to a statistic from the German federal bank in 2017 about 74% of all transactions were cash. In 2021 that number had dropped to 58%. During the course of the pandemic lots of smaller vendors introduced card or mobile payment as an option. The most commonly accepted form of card payment is debit though. Credit cards will often be declined.
When you're in Germany make sure to look at the backside of the coins you get to see where they are from. There are so many great cities in Germany. Berlin, of course, Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne and Munich would be my first suggestions, but of course there are many more... If you are in Munich, Salzburg (Austria) isn't far either. Great city!
You can get euros ‘out of the wall’ (Bankomat) at most banks.
You should have a look at the last Dutch bank notes (gulden) before they switched to Euro’s. Those were really beautiful bank notes.
haha, just made the same comment! We Dutchies sure loved our old money because they were truly works of art.
Funfact: to make the €-bills glow in UV-light they use a rare earth called Europium.
And if you want to see some history in Germany, visit the Rhineland and come to Cologne. Over 2000 years in one city.
Interesting fact, the word euro is written in the three official scripts in Europe latin, greek and cyrillic.
02:42 "banknote collector" = numismatic
In Switzerland we have a 1000 Swiss Francs bill. That is about 1000 dollars. A crazy amount to hold in your hand in a single bill
9:13 It seems that you DO have the newest version (second generation)
The usual security check in the stores here in The Netherlands consists of them using a marker with special ink that isn't visible on the correct paper. It's super quick to check for fakes that way
Same here in Germany. I guess thats normal everywhere you, where they use the euro.
@@Jade-ns9tg fair enough ^^ I wasn't aware, I only just moved here last year. We never adopted the euro in Denmark, where I am from, so there's a lot of those small things that I am not aware of still
@@Jade-ns9tg where ? when i pay with higher notes they mostly use this scan thing where it rolls in and out, small device kinda. Never seen this ink thing actually besides NL.
I've seen a pen, a UV light the note is held under, and a scanner that pulls the note in. German in Hamburg
@Semîramis UBE i'm used to the pen from Düsseldorf i guess....can't really remember. Also some friends told me about it from there work. But i also saw the old scanners like Rusty said.
I’m glad they’ve discontinued the €500 note as it was practically impossible to use especially in France. Some places have “difficulty” with the €200.
If you're interested in nature, clean and warm sea, islands, lots of history, you can visit Croatia.
What I think he should have mentioned is that there are also 2€ commemorative coins. Each country has different sets of commemorative coins or if there is some kind of an anniversary, event in Europe, EU they make it into a coin. Eg. When there was 10th anniversary of Euro they made a special 2 € coin design that had the same visual for every country, and they just added the name of the country in their native tongue to the top. Eg. Ireland has Éire written on it, Slovakia has Slovensko, Slovenia has Slovenija and so on. During the Olympics in Athens and Turin they made a special 2 € as well.
You mentioned that the size of the 10 euro bill is smaller than the us bills. Did you realize that the euro bills have different sizes? The more valuable ones are bigger. With different sizes and colours they are easy to recognize and hard to confuse.
Well, this is timely! I'm heading off to Paris in September for two weeks. My first overseas trip since 2006, so this is good to know.. Noddy goes overseas, ha! Joel, appreciation for this video presentation, appreciation for you! Blessings!
make sure to drop by in Austria and plan your trips to Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, Liechtenstein ...
Hi, a great Tipp: Buy the 49 Euro ticket, with a few exceptions you can travel by bus and train throughout Germany with it, valid for one month!
Peter
I'm from the Netherlands and most places that still accept cash, don't accept 100 and 200 euro bills.
I don't know if Germany is the same, but it might be worth keeping in mind.
But 100 € notes are accepted normaly. The 500€ note was different. But the furniture store had an extra machine to verify it. So I could pay with it.
@@aliciag.7777 furniture stores usually handle big amounts, although I doubt JPS is going to buy furniture on his holiday in Germany.
Do stores that handle small amounts, like book stores, also accept large denominations?
Up to 100€ is often ok. But 50€ is better. I don’t know any store that doesn’t take 50€.
I know he would not buy furniture. It was just to show what kind of stores did take the 500€.
Most ATMs also only have 5 to 50€ notes. As these are so most common ones. But since corona a lot of the smaller stores also switched to card payment.
The 100 rarely is an issue. Most shops are flooded with 50s as many ATMs default to not mixing smaller bills when drawing 50/100/150/... Euros, so giving change is not an issue for them. The 200 is another issue; cashiers aren't familiar enough with them to notice fakes, so they won't accept them unless they have to (e.g. for purchases between 151 and 200 EUR).
I would love to see you react to the craziness, which is the Eurovision Song Contest
The reason behind bank note changes is to flush out hidden cash.. Under the mattress hoards of notes, black market and stolen monies. Removing the €500 note will also be for money laundering reasons. A pile of notes will now be 5 times as large, causing problems in moving large amounts of cash too.
The British pound gets a makeover occasionally for "counterfeit" avoidance, but generally it is to flush stockpiles out...
I love the Euro, I loved being in the EU, I wish this bloody minded decision could be reversed.
I hope, that you (as a country) will get to return during our lifetime. - A friend of the European Idea, who remembers the time before the 1990‘s.
I've actually been using almost no cash for a few years now. Of course, there are still the one or other small store that only accepts cash, but overall it doesn't seem to be a problem for me anymore.
Yes the Euro is great and helpful. It makes life easier but some of the really nice bank notes are gone. The 50 Gulden banknote from the Netherlands for example. Those with the sunflowers.
Oh yesss, the Euro has so much secrets... 😂
Biggest bill we had was the ten thousand dollar note from 1945-1969
There are much more sercurity features :). Thank you for your great videos!
In Sweden we had a 10000 SEK note (1000 dollars) until 1991. Now the biggest note is 1000 SEK (100 dollars). Sweden is supposed to introduce the euro but chooses to delay it even if they fulfill the criteria.
Wow, I had no idea French Frank banknote had an image of Maria Curie-Skłodowska, a Polish scientist married to a French scientist oO.
Dude you didn't get an old note . The ones shown already are the slightly modified (the "new" ones). The old 50 for example had the "50" way on the right side - which moved more towards the center.
I really recommend visiting cities like Heidelberg, Lübeck, Bamberg, Dresden or Hamburg instead of Berlin
Fascinating! I'd forgotten that Cyrillic is used as well as Greek & Latin alphabets. I also didn't know about the latest security features. I currently have €20 + €5 plus change in my euro-wallet from my trip to germany earlier in the year - but fortunately QR-code order at the table or contactless Android Pay is now the norm, so I don't feel the need to carry so much cash!
They did the 500 bill note because of us Germans, because we are so fond of cash and a lot of us even pay bigger bills (like for a fridge e.g.) in cash :) I'm an exeption, I pay almost everything with plastic =)
because we had 1000 Mark note ... (to make a long story short 😘)
And every Euro note has a different size and the lines on the side. The coins have different sizes and surfaces on the rim, so blind people can very easily know which kind of money they use.
But if you ask any (older) German, we all loved! Our D-Marks, because it was the hardest, most valuable currency of Europe, before they invented the Euro. Every country was eager to receive the german D-Mark, because of very little inflation.
The Dutch Guilder was just as hard and for some time even harder.
The euro is more practical, but I miss the German mark. Especially the coins xD
And especially the 5 mark coin. I think it would be cool if there was a 5 euro coin.
With coins you can almost feel the value, while paper is just paper.
Who wants to fill a treasure chest with paper?
UK is not in the EU now I wish we never left but glad we still have our own currency
*Fun facts*
- while the idea of a European currency was still a project, it's working name was ECU acronym for European Currency Unit, and (intentionally ?) pronounced like the French Middle-Age gold coin Écu.
The name was eventually changed to Euro because "ECU" led to some nasty jokes in some European languages.
- because of different grammatical marks of plural according to languages, it's spelled Euro on bank notes, not Euros nor Euri. However Euros is acceptable in day to day sentences.
And signs to feel for blind people at the bills and coins too
Heyho, nice Video. Wouldn't have thought this is so interesting!
But, ... you seem to not have watched Geography Now Germany yet.
For a TH-camr interested in Germany, that's a needed video!
Have a great day!
Check coins! When the currency changed it took quite some time for coins to circulate between countries, so we checked every coin we got in our hands to see if we got one from another country, trying to figure out where it was from and what it represented. *.*
the euro banknotes actually have different sizes! the 5 is the smallest and the 200 (or the old 500) is the biggest! so the 10€ note you have is not the standard size because there is none!
I love the 0€ bill
Hello Joel. I enjoyed the old Italian notes with all the zeros. Also some countries seem to be sure not to meet the criteria. Even some German people miss the Mark (sorry could not resist "dad" joke).
EB did a reaction to this chap's zero Euro video, which I enjoyed.
Did you spot the bits of France on other continents. It must feel very much colonial to have Euro in South America for example. You should look at that sometime when you cover France.
nah the french frank is crazy
what about hiking in the alpen? It's really nice there even for young people like myself
How about some big cities in the different areas of Germany? Like for instance Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich (depending of course on how much time you intend to spend in the country)?
Since Covid many businesses and counties throughout Europe are moving closer to cash free. Personally I haven’t carried a cent of cash for about 3 years, I just don’t need to anymore. Here in Austria 99% of outlets take card payments. There are even bars and restaurants that ONLY take cards. It’s the way forward. In 10 years we will all live in a cashless society.
Pls, don't forget to eat all the recommended german food. There are lots of vids on the net. By the time you will visit us, the are a lot of "Volksfeste" all around, maybe you find it interresting.
Hey man, pls make a reaction on football fans USA vs Europe. Because Football (for you soccer) is an essential part of the german culture as well. They love the sport here and it’s just amazing to experience this passion in a stadium. If you are coming to Germany try it out😉😅
Some 2€ coins are collectors and they can be worth a lot of money, especially early series with mistakes, those of some small countries or special issues. There are web sites where you can see which ones are worth what. Recently, I saw a German 2€ coin worth 250.000€.
I am a german guy and i love your vids
Morning Joel, do you fancy a trip on the Eurostar, between maybe Brussels and London?
Well, hello..I grew up in times as the D-Mark was still our currency...I dislike the Euro for no reason..lol😂
The 500€ note is being removed as they where not really practical and where mostly used by criminals to move large amounts of cash
Hi.
When you will say that you was in all four corners (points of the compass) here in Germany, you must visit Berlin and Goerlitz for the point in the east, Aachen and Cologne (Köln)for the point in the West, Kiel in the North. include the two seas that Germany have (North Sea and Baltic Sea) for the point in the North and Munich (München) in the south for the point in the south.
And you know in Munich is the biggest folk and beerfest of the world 🌎. And: in Bad Duerckheim is the world 🌎 biggest wine fest.and I life 40 kilometer away from Bad Duerckheim
About 20 years since I used cash, I don't really know what the coins and bills are worth
and just by the way, that many only accept cash is not true. That used to be the case 10-20 years ago. Since the pandemic, many people have regularly paid by card, even in the supermarket. Even my favourite Chinese takeaway has a card reader if you don't have it handy.
But cash is still so widespread here in Germany because technology can also go on strike. Then the cashiers also have to accept cash.
Especially since cash also gives you a better overview of your finances. If you don't have any cash, you can't spend any more.
Because at most banks, every transfer and every direct debit now costs something, and that adds up to a lot.
Last year I had over 100 euros in bank charges in one month because I paid so often with my card.
The coins can be collected. On the one hand, there is the general Germany motif with the Brandenburg Gate, the German eagle and a lor leaf. But now each of the 16 federal states has its own motif on the 2 euro coin. I'm only missing Saarland, Thuringia and Hamburg.
You're missing a bit of perspective here. The comparison is the US, where absolutely every business and even individuals having a yard sale are accepting credit cards, but on the other hand, cash is rejected by a growing percentage of businesses. If you're in the wrong corner of the States, you could starve while holding a bunch of $100 bills.
An American will assume that every business accepts credit cards and some accept cash, something that will cause them trouble in Germany.
Some countries dont meet the criteria. That is a half truth some countries dont meet the criteria by choice since they have no wish to switch. Like sweden they had a vote wheter to switch or not. Not switching won. but we do not have a exception to not join so we do not meet the criteria so we do not need to switch
It was not a nightmare, handling the different currencies! Actually, it was part of the experience when travelling around Europe. There are in fact more downsides connected to a European single currency, than there are upsides.
Just don't use the 100 and 200 Euro notes. Most places do not accept them. Max would be the 50 Euro note.
Come to Hamburg!
Hi Joel , it's an interesting video (pierre)
the biggest US note was the 100.000 USD note
It was never used .... But we had 100,000,000,000 Marks (One Hundred Trillion Marks) in 1924
The highest nominal ever issued in Germany. 🤣
@@kingofshit303 this is 100 Billion in English - 100 Millairden in German .. not Trillions
You are Visiting Germany?!😮 woah
The odd is: Even there is a 200€ note, and it is an actual, valid banknote, you won't find anyone who takes it!
They're afraid of it is counterfeit money.
So be shure to split them in a bank, if you have some.
I don't know where you are from, but I do pay a lot with 200€ notes (I'm from Germany). Cars, spare parts, repairs, electronics. I never encountered any issue with using these notes, unless I want to pay at a food truck, a fast food store or some other super tiny business.
Even odder: The 200 is the least often counterfeited bill...
@@dnocturn84 allmost all tankstations here dont take a 200€ note.
And i wonder, if it is legal!? Its a banknote..
@@fliplefrog8843 Gas stations in Germany are known to not accept 500€ bills (alongside many - or even most - stores and businesses). But 200€ were accepted by them so far, wherever I had the opportunity to do so in the past. But I am sure that I saw at least one or two that had a sign saying, that they don't accept 200€ bills either.
So maybe it's a growing trend to ban them as well.
I usually always pay with card on gas stations and rarely use cash for that purpose, so it's not even impossible, that they all don't accept 200€ notes at this point anymore and I just didn't realize, to be honest with you about gas stations.
@@dnocturn84 Maybe it also depends on the region.
You don't want to hang dead over the fence here ;D (Joking) Means: low population here.
When buying euro get from a bank or the hotel you staying from, you can be ripped off from other vendor
If you‘re going to germany and Berlin is allrready settled, then I would like to suggest Munic for being the total opposite to Berlin and then Frankfurt am Main, because it‘s a pulsating city, the finnancial heart of europe with a unique architectural scenery. Please be sure that Munic will be one of the most expensive cities in germany.
This wasn't all of the scurity features of the notes. There is more.
Is it true, that Dollars are all the same size and colour? If yes, isn't it difficult to differentiate when you're in a hurry perhaps?
Everybody, who doesn't like the Euro banknotes because they are boring is highly welcome to give them to me! I am happy to take that burden away from your purse.
😂😂
I love money to!