Berlin: The local money is much prettier...
28/10/08 16:50
| If you don't like
your money, why not make some of your own?
Ethan Lindsey reports on regional currency in
Berlin, a colorful alternative to the euro
that also gives back to the community.
|
The greenback, you might say, is a little green around the gills. Not to mention green with envy over all those pretty colors on European currency. But that doesn't mean everyone loves euros.
In the latest installment of our occasional series "The Color of Money," Ethan Lindsey reports some Europeans are taking matters into their own hands.
ETHAN LINDSEY: At an upscale coffee shop on Berlin's Unter Den Linden Boulevard, American Christina Cocadiz sips an overpriced coffee. She bought it, of course, with euros.
But when she lived here five years ago, Cocadiz wasn't sure Germans would ever get used to the single, unified currency of the European Union.
CHRISTINA COCADIZ: People would like, pay with Deutschmark and then would get euros back, or try pay with euros and accidentally say "Deutschmark." That happened a million times the first month.
European businesses have embraced the euro -- they love its strength and stability. And tourists find it handy -- no need to pay a money-changer every time you cross the border.
But many Germans still haven't made peace with the new currency or the new world it represents. In fact, all over the continent, Europeans have begun printing alternative currencies of their own.
They're often called "regional money." And so far, there are about 100 varieties.
Susanne Thomas is an engineer who started one of the most successful. It's called "The Berliner." (read the article)
