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FRANKFURT, (AFP) The Germans, said to be among the most reluctant to embrace the new single Europan currency, were out in force in Frankfurt on Sunday night, braving the cold to give the euro a warm welcome.

Depsite the minus four-degree temperatures, the usually deserted midnight streets of the country's financial capital were thronging with hundreds of people, muffled up in thick scarves, heavy coats, hats and gloves.

They crowded the small square in front of the stock exchange in the very centre of the city while hundreds more squeezed on to the narrow pavement in front of the headquarters of one of the biggest banks, Dresdner Bank, just down the road, awaiting the chimes of midnight.

For that was the moment the so-called euro starter kits, containing 20 marks (10.23 euros, 9.24 dollars)) worth of euro coins, officially went on sale here.

And if the crush on Sunday night was anything to go by, the small, cellophane bags of eight euro coins, aimed at allowing people to familiarise themselves with the new currency before it becomes legal tender on January 1, look set to sell out in only a few days.

Starter kits had already gone on sale in France, the Netherlands and Ireland on Friday, followed by Austria, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland on Saturday.

Germany, Greece and Portugal were last three euro-zone countries to start selling their own kits on Monday.

And Frankfurt, being the self-proclaimed city of the euro, was celebrating the official launch in its own special way.

In front of the stock exchange, a stage was set up with a giant Euro Gong, five metres (16 feet) in diameter, on which the President of the Bundesbank, Ernst Welteke, officially rang in the new euro era at midnight.

The celebrations began at 10:00 pm (2100 GMT), with speeches by luminaries from the city's financial sector and the city's mayor.

Music and drinks helped sustain the crowd during the two-hour wait and television hosts compered a light-hearted quiz on stage on euro-related themes.

And just down the road in front of Dresdner Bank, there were stands selling delicacies from the 12 euro-zone countries, flag-dancing, music and fireworks. The bank's chairman, Bernd Fahrholz, handed out euro starter kits to the first 100 takers for free. Bernd Paulus, 60, was first in the queue and had been waiting since 9:00 pm.

He won the very first starter kit as a reward.

"I'd heard about it on the radio and thought I'd look by to see what was going on," he told AFP.

As a book-keeper in the Frankfurt-based engineering group, Lurgi AG, Paulus said he felt well-prepared for the new currency. "I'll be a little sad, of course, to say goodbye to the stable deutschemark. But I'm optimistic the euro will be just as stable. It'll be good for Europe."

Paulus said he did not intend to use the coins in his starter kit.

"I'm not going to open it. I'm no collector. But this is a very special memento," he said.

The rest of the crowd seem to think so, too, and the small makeshift stand selling the kits nearly toppled over in the crush.

In front of the stock exchange, people were similarly excited, even the elderly who are supposed to be very sceptical about the euro.

"It's an historic occasion. We've come down to be the first to get a kit," said Horst Beuthel, a pensioner from Frankfurt.

He conceded that he, too, would be sorry to the see the mark go.

"But we can't do anything about it. And it'll be good not having to change money when travelling in Europe."

Miklos Szirbik, 21, a Hungarian national born in Frankfurt, was less sentimental.

"The disappearance of the mark means nothing for me or my generation," he said.

"The single currency is a fact of life." While the coins are not officially allowed to be used until January 1, Szirbik said he was going to try them out in cigarette vending machines, most of which have already been equipped to take both deutschemarks and euros, later on Monday. Doris Bornschein, in her early 40s, also had no intention of holding on to her starter kit as a souvenir.

"I want to be able to touch and feel the euros," she said.

"It's been talked about for so long and I don't have the feeling that I'm really ready yet."

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