51.   When France steps up its rollout of euro notes and coins, it could look more like a high-tech military operation than a simple bank delivery.

52.   When the priest begins his lesson, pointing at pictures and brief written explanations of the new euro notes and coins, brows furrow and milky eyes strain.

53.   Finland is the only country so far where faulty euro notes -- missing their anti-forgery hologram -- have been discovered.

54.   Further ways of detecting whether a euro note is a forgery include checking the watermark and security thread running through the note.

55.   Galeries Lafayette has nearly tripled its cash float to cope with the rush of customers offloading francs and big euro notes.

56.   Greece was plans to welcome euro notes and coins with a seven-hour sound and light extravaganza in the heart of Athens.

57.   However some money distributing machines refused to supply euro notes to all who demanded them.

58.   In Greece, traffic jams several kilometres long marked an otherwise smooth return to business, as cashiers at road tolls reportedly fumbled with new euro notes and coins.

59.   In Vienna, Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and visiting European Commission President Romano Prodi used their first euro notes to buy flowers for their wives.

60.   In Vienna European Commission President Romano Prodi celebrated the event by making his first purchase using euro notes and coins, buying flowers for his wife just after midnight.