A quarter is 25 cents of American change… it used to be that you could purchase things for a quarter or under a quarter. Not anymore really.

Let’s see…

In 1942 you could get a bottle of Coca Cola for 5 cents.

In 1955 you could get fresh roasted penauts at Ebbet’s Field to watch a Dodgers baseball game, for 10 cents!

This guys says that if you have a 25 cent piece minted pre-1965 it’s actually worth 8 bucks! So I guess you can sort of get a couple of gallons of gas for a quarter, as he points out.

In 1978 a 1.2 oz chocolate Hershey’s bar cost 25 cents.

But this is 2011, and I live in Paris, one of the most expensive cities in the world… so imagine my utter astoniqhment when I saw something for under 25 €ents! A bottle of water, folks. For 20 cents. I couldn’t believe it. Especially because they cost 2 whole euros when you purchase a bottle of Evian in a vending machine.

I found this at the Galaries Lafayette Gourmet boutique OF ALL PLACES TOO!!! Not a place where you will find lower priced groceries by any means! So hip-hip-hooray for the Gal-Laf for putting something on the shelf that is priced at a cost that is reasonable and accessible to everyone. It’s so accessible that as I was leaving the department store to go grab the bus, I saw a clandestine street vendor with a bucket full of ice water and those very same water bottles… his price? 1€.

Oh and just for comparisons sake to put things in perspective… at the Galaries Lafayette store, you can also get what looks like a gallon of Nutella…for 39€. It’s a balancing act, right?!? LOL!!!

Oh, and FYI… You don’t have to pay for water in Paris… when you order a meal or a drink at a restaurant or a café, you may ask for a “carafe d’eau” and it’s free. You can also fill up your own water bottle for free at the Wallace fountains that are scattered around the city!