Journal Entry, May 26, 2009<: $.49. After 20 hours of flight and airport time, arrived in New Orleans with just enough time and energy for a quick walk. Found a quarter and a few pennies at the local car wash.
Journal Entry, May 27, 2009: Weight = 175.4; $1.06, 21 pennies, 3 nickels, 2 dimes, @ 2 quarters; Glass bottles retrieved = 3; Ground Scores = 1; Best Money find = 8 cents, 3 pennies and a nickel on the University of New Orleans Parking Lot while returning a book on the Czech Republic. It is late Monday afternoon and jet lag is just around the corner.
Journal Entry, May 28, 2009: Weight = 174.4; $1.04, 29 pennies (one wheat), 2 nickels, 4 dimes, @ 1 quarter; Bottles = 5; Ground Scores = 2; Best Find = a sun burned quarter in a curb near Delgado Community College. Hallelujah, the 174.4 weight was the same as departure weigh-in, no weight gain after all that eating; more about that later. http://numismaticallyspeaking.blogspot.com/
Feature Entry: The Numismatist has observed that is difficult to find money while doing vacation walks in the U.S. After spending two weeks in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, finding money is even more troublesome in these mature civilizations. Net take was 3 Euro cents, one Euro penny and one Euro two penny, all found in Nuremberg. Maybe it is because of the Euro value. These pitiful excuses for currency are so expensive relative to the dollar that no one dares lose even one of them.
Another problem is novelty. With both ancient and different architecture from New Orleans, it was difficult to focus. Yet on moneywalks, the intent was to focus on street curbs, newspaper stands, cigarette machines, and telephone booths. Nada! The cities visited supported very few newspaper dispensers but there are zillions of cigarette dispensing machines. Still none gave up a single Forint or Euro.
As for weight gain or loss, the MoneyWalker experienced a real success story. The first week of our trip was on a river cruise along the blue Danube River from Budapest to Nuremburg. We ate three great meals a day with numerous snacks and beverages. On a European river cruise, the clue to weight maintenance is moderation and restraint coupled with numerous walking excursions into the interesting cities. We also had ample free time in several of the ports-of-call. I always took a zoom walk during this period. I was able to see the "back yards" of these ancient but touristy places.
The second week comprised a rental-car excursion through the Czech Republic. Each morning I continued my habit of zoom-walking while looking for Czech Forints. Again, nada.
In terms of coinage, the Blue Danube is certainly no 17th Street Canal, but then we can’t have it all.
MoneyWalker
It's good to see you post again. Hope that your trip was wonderful in spite of the poor totals. It sounds like you visited some wonderful sites.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the residents of those countries across the pond have already discovered moneywalking. Or they are not embarrassed to bend over and pick up errant change the way many Americans are. Or maybe they just are more careful with their euros. On the other hand, the empty vending machines are puzzling.
Good luck with the jet lag. A good quick walk always helps!