In Russia banks love giving out 500 euro notes when you exchange rubles to euros, the problem is most places in Europe don't accept 500 euro notes for payment, even for sums that are more than 500 euro (such as paying for hotel stay). From what I heard even most banks won't accept them unless you have an account, so they're totally useless to bring for a euro trip.
As far as I'm aware, here in DE they have to take such large notes as long as it's proportionate to the sum owed. Coincidentally, Germans do love their paper money more than most.
Yep. I was a bit annoyed that Scandinavian countries go cashless, but I was caught a few times in restaurants in Germany that didn't accept credit cards. On short trips, I never bother carrying cash.
