BTilke

Skip Paris. Go to Oktoberfest in Germany. There you can find all the people happily smoking AND farting away (massive quantities of beer+wursts+onions+mustard=altnerative fuel source).<BR>

Nancy

Ita: The Bonjour Paris article (link to which was graciously provided above) is one of the best resources around. <BR><BR>All in all, there are very few restaurants in Paris which are non-smoking and even fewer that are relatively inexpensive.<BR><BR>The exhaust fumes from the cars, trucks, buses (especially those tour buses that leave their engines running all the time) are far more troublesome than tobacco smoke in restaurants.<BR><BR>

CoughCoughIsStupid

Cough Cough! Wake up. Society has deemed tobacco legal. End of story. Whether it is right or wrong is IMMATERIAL, i.e. it is not relevant to the main argument. At one time, the South deemed slavery to be legal (regrettably). Nevertheless, until it changed, it was still legal (whether or not someone agrees! the point is society did at that time). There is no other explanation! That is logic you can't argue with. No go out and get a job at the American Lung Association. You are irritating!

HaHa

BTIlke/Anthony: Yours is the best response! Thanks for putting it up. You are hysterical.<BR>

jj

Ita<BR><BR>You ask us to lighten up but you state you want to go somewhere &quot;without choking on smoke&quot;. There are many places less smokey than others, however if you have no tolerance towards smoke whatsoever, I would say you are in for a tough dining experience. <BR><BR>Cough: Why certain drugs are illegal and others not has always been a mystery to me. The point is this: You, as a non-smoker, can find a non-smoking restaurant although the same cannot be said for the reverse in more and more places. The fact that this does not bother you is where I am troubled.

Cough! Cough!

<BR><BR>Society has also deemed farting, and plenty of other rude and obnoxious behaviors, to be legal.<BR><BR>So, as long as smokers continue their perfectly legal but obnoxious behavior in public places I shall continue my legal but obnoxious behavior in public places! <BR><BR>After all, what's good for the flatulent goose is good for the fuming gander! <BR><BR>End of story. <BR><BR><BR>

Al Godon

Let me asssure everyone that I am fully aware that many thousands of people all over Europe suffer from smoking related illnesses. My comments to the contrary were pure sarcasm. If you talk to French people, those who speak English in my case, you will get statements of total denial: There is no smoking problem in France. <BR><BR>I was regaled once with a story that so and so's grandfather lived to be 100 and smoked for 80 years. That anecdote was offered as proof that smoking was not harmful. <BR><BR>I have looked into the smoking cars on the trains. They are so gross that even the smokers don't sit there.<BR>They often opt to sit in the non smoking cars and then go to the smoking car<BR>to take a few puffs. Why they bother to light up their own cigarette is beyond me. Just a few whiffs of that poisonous air should give them all they need.<BR><BR>Some of the restaurants make a gesture at providing non smoking areas, but usually it is a table near smokers.<BR>I said something once and the response was &quot;There is no smoking at your table.&quot;<BR>The fact that there were smokers behind us, in front of us, and beside us did not enter into the designation. Our table was non smoking; the waiter even removed the ash tray before we sat down. I guess I should thank a higher power for small favors.<BR><BR>My guess is that lung cancer is rampant in France, particularly Paris. But I have never seen any figures to bear out my suppositions.<BR>So anyone who did not recognize some not too skillfull sarcasm, let me conclude by saying that I hope some type of public initiative starts to tell people that tobacco smoke is poison. It is going to take a monumental effort to turn the situation around in France and Italy. The habit is deeply ingrained, and the substance is perhaps the most addictive chemical known to man.<BR>

jane

oh goodie, another chance to dump all over people who ask questions you consider stupid. You get to call them ugly Americans, provincial and talk a lot about rights of others. Too bad, you can't just answer the question. Bring on the jogging suit!

xxx

Hey, it's because of your stupid laws in the States that I don't spend my Euros there. I don't go to the States because it's a &quot;crime &quot; to smoke and also because of the junk food you eat. You don't get lung cancer but you get colon cancers with the bull.... you eat.