THE EURO

Germany and 11 other West European nations have a common currency — the euro. All purchases and transactions in Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland and Greece are executed in euros.

Five West European countries — Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland — haven't switched to the euro, nor have any of the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. More will, no doubt, join the "club" in future years.

The Euro consists of seven bills each of a different color and a different size; the more valuable it is the bigger it is. The five euro bill is gray, the 10 euro bill red, the 20 blue, the 50 orange, the 100 green, the 200 brownish yellow and the 500 lavender.

Each bill pictures a different door or window on the front side and a different bridge, plus a map of Europe, on the reverse. The doors, windows and bridges are not modeled on real ones. All is done to avoid anything that could be associated with a given country.

The euro is divided into 100 cents. There are eight coins, with values of one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50 cents, one euro and two euros. Each of these is also a different size. The one and two euro coins combine gold and silver colored metals. The 10, 20 and 50 cent coins are gold colored and the one, two and five cent ones copper colored.

Unlike the bills, the coins are different in each of the 12 countries. The front side is the same everywhere, but each country has its own design on the reverse.

Germany has its traditional eagle on the one and two euro coins, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on the 10 , 20 and 50 cent ones, and an oak branch on the one , two and five cent ones The different national coins are good in all 12 countries, however, and many people will no doubt make a hobby of collecting them.

© 2015 TLC Magazine Online, Inc.