In pictures: Euro hits the streets

The euro has made a sensational debut across the 12 countries of the eurozone. Thousands of people queued at banks to get their hands on the new currency - and then went out to spend it.

The queue for euros at the Bank of Spain in Madrid stretched out the door

It was the same story at the Central Bank of Ireland in Dublin

While in Paris, there was a separate queue at the Eiffel tower for customers paying in euros

Some people paid in old currencies, and got change in euros

But payments were also made in euros, as at this Paris cafe...

... this outdoor restaurant in Rome...

...a donut stand in Maastricht, the Netherlands...

... and a Dublin newsagents, where the customer was Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern

This waitress at a bar in Maastricht carried a converter in her breast pocket

And this trumpeter at a Munich beer hall received a handsome tip in the new currency