Does anyone have any useful hints/ideas how to avoid the smoke in Italian restaurant. I am sure they don't have non smoking areas. <BR> <BR>Thanks, Skip

Skip...I do understand how difficult the smoking issue can be for us "non-smokers". I think we are just out of luck. We choose tables that are outdoors or we just hope for the best wherever we have been seated. <BR> <BR>Guess that's the way it is until Europe catches up with the US on the dangers of smoking. <BR>

I'm sympathetic, but no answer. Once in a Rome restaurant we vere offered a rare choice of non-smoking. We took it of course. We were shown to a basement with one other (American) couple. No windows, nothing going on. When we went back upstairs, where they smoked, there was a violin player seranading folks, lots of activity and revellry. Lots of people, all very happy. Never again will we go for non-smoking in Italy. Just grin and bear it.

Eat early. If you get there when they open they probably won't get crowded until later. Also, try to sit outside.

Ask for non-smoking -- VEEERRRYYYY NICELY (and almost apologetically, hey you want it, right? then you gotta do what you gotta do). They might try to work around you and seat non-smokers next to you. Often it doesn't matter, but at least you tried. <BR> <BR>Being a smoker, if you asked me nicely (doesn't even have to be "VEEERRRYYYY" -- just "excuse me, would you mind, it bothers me, I would appreciate it, thank you") I would put it out in a second, with a smile and a "sure, you bet, no problem". But if you wave the air, screw up your face and make "tsk" noises and comments about "all this SMOKE" and how you can't take it, I'm not giving it up. <BR> <BR>Most of Europe is in the "smoking" section, but some places are even to gross for ME *cough cough*! <BR> <BR>Good luck!

As others have said, eat early, eat outside, and finally, look for vegetarian restaurants. In those, non-smokers are the clear majority. I'm not vegetarian, but have friends who are, and whenever we eat in a vegetarian restaurant, smokers are few and far between, even in nicotine addicted Europe.

McDonalds!!!!!!!

hmmmm, I think I'd rather breathe stinky cigarette smoke than eat at a MacDonalds <BR>Travel 1000s of miles to eat at MacDonalds (I don't think so)

Skip <BR>Try to take the advice of other posters but also try to prepare yourself psychologically that you WILL be dealing with smoke everywhere. It is deplorable but unavoidable. <BR> <BR>I called a recommended restaurant in Rome to make a reservation and the proprietor said "7:30pm, 7:30pm", while dismissing my attempt to give a name. When we got there the one room was filling up with guess what? Americans. I was actually thrilled because this one night we were able to eat a nice meal at a restaurant without smoke being blown in our faces and ashes carelessly flicked about. They smoke pipes and cigars and in more than one restaurant we were seated by people who just sat and chain smoked. We had a wonderful trip of a life-time exploring the beauty of Europe and added bonus is our appreciation for smoke free environments here at home. <BR> <BR>

someone said Europe has not caught up with America on the smoking thing, so be it second hand smoke is dangerous but you can barely smoke in your own home in america anymore..if we're waiting for europe to catch up on that I'm wondering should we also wait for europes children to catch up and start bringing guns to school...you can't smoke wherever you want because secondhand smoke kills, but i'll be damned if practically anyone can't go get a gun and kill whomever they choose.

We had good luck in France by eating early, usually arriving at opening time. We had a harder time in Amsterdam, where the local dinner time is similar to the U.S.

To Try This - I'm reluctant to actually request that you stop. What if I told you that I'm dying of a lung disease because of lungs weakened because my parents smoked close to me from the time I was a baby [and I may not have many trips left] ?

To Neversmoked: <BR> <BR>I would say that you are full of shit. Your weak lungs are bad genetics, nothing more. <BR> <BR>If you want a reference for that, try www.who.org, and look for their 1998 report on second hand smoke. Children who grew in smoking households were LESS prone to get respiratory ilnesses than children raised in non-smoking households. Don't believe me? Look for the report. It is the most comprehensive study to date on second hand smoke. <BR> <BR>(And it proved that there is NO risk to anyone from breathing SHS. To put things in perspective, if you are a non-smoker and live in a smoking household and work in a smoking office and go to smoking restaurants and bars you inhale the equivalent of 5 cigarettes A YEAR)

Start smoking. You'll enjoy the smoky restaurants much more.

...or stay home, all of you that are intolerant to the cigarette smoke. I'd honestly appreciate if you do...

I am a non-smoker, but a problem many Americans have in Europe is that they assume a very superior attitude about smokers and can be pretty snotty about it. Everyone except a tiny minority with really bad lung disease (and they probably aren't travelling that much) can stand an evening in a smoky pub, cafe or club. If you can't - don't go -- it is their culture and they aren't going to change because some yuppie American makes faces at them.

Thank you, Janis. I whish all the American travelers could handle the issue likewise.

This is for all posters on this thread, especially "You have to ([email protected])." I went to www.who.org and didn't look up your reference because, there on the home page was a feature on second hand smoke. It's titled "World No Tobacco Day 2001." The article states, <BR>"Second-hand smoke kills. Let’s clear the air. World No Tobacco Day 2001 <BR>Second-hand smoke is a real and significant threat to public health. Supported by two decades of evidence, the scientific community now agrees that there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. <BR> <BR>Second-hand smoking has been causally associated with a range of life-threatening health effects, including lung cancer and heart disease. For children, the situation is particularly disturbing, as involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke has been identified as a cause of respiratory disease, middle ear disease, asthma attacks, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Tobacco smoke is also an important source of indoor air pollution, contributing to a noxious environment, and causing eye irritation, sore throat, cough, and headache." <BR> <BR>While I sympathize with those who are addicted, those of us who aren't should not be subjected to fouled air, at least in the US. In countries where smoking is the rule, I would hesitate to ask someone to stop. I'm a guest and I wouldn't dream of asking my host/hostess to put it out.

Leave it to the Europeans to unctuously lecture the rest of the world on alleged human-caused "global warming", whilst they are blowing carcinogenic tobacco smoke in your face.

Yeah, all of you should stay home, safe and happy, to live your wonderful and long lives, but let others do what they wish, as they wish. <BR> <BR>Stop with this irrealistic expectation that one day, all the rules will be set by your standards.The Roman Empire fell, the Japan Empire fell, Hitler fell, other civilizations, where one nation wanted to dominate others ( because just they knew what should be, and the way it should be) fell. Your day is hopefully coming, and you'll have what you deserve. <BR> <BR>Stay within the limits of America, and please, don't bother us!