Ici C’est 100% Sans Tabac

Am I the only person shocked that the French government has approved a ban on smoking in public places?

C'est pas possible!

Actually since New York and I agreed to quit on the same day (July 11, 2002), I've always been afraid (of my own lack of self-control) that I'd started smoking again during my twice-yearly visits to the City of Light. The previous time I quit (April 11, 1994) I started smoking again after 12 hours in London (May 2, 1996).

Although, I have been sorely tempted since then - I've never given in.

I do remember Paris 2001 when I was the only smoker at the table (4 frenchies, 2 american expats) and I kept my lit cig behind my back. The friend seated next to me said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm used to holding it away from people." As our waiter approached, cigarette in hand, it was clear that sort of politesse was not expected in my favorite city in the world.

I also remember Paris 2003 when a French guy told me, "Can you imagine they have banned smoking at Charles de Gaulle. What were the idiots thinking? This cannot be!"

Paris has, of course, an esprit. Part of that is not only its incomparable energy but the sights and smells. For some reason, smoking doesn't stink there. It is Paris! I guess because it permeates everything it doesn't stand out like it does here.

Mais, oui - I'm a little smoking obssessed.

I have beautiful memories of the year I lived in Toulon, France in 1985-86. We spent hours and hours and hours talking about the meaning of life (as if we knew at 24), drinking espresso, and smoking Marlboro Lights with Indochine or The Cure playing on the radio at Le Chantilly on Boulevard Strasbourg. If money was tight, we'd switch to Gauloise Legere.

I also remember Paris 1996, a dreary Sunday afternoon in November drinking red wine, eating oysters, and smoking at Le Baron Rouge.

And Paris, 1998, a beautiful Saturday, eating boudin, drinking red wine (again) and smoking (again) at Le Coude Fou in the Marais.

I know you ex-smokers know of what I speak even if you've never been to France.

I learned from an article in The New York Times that "France’s history with tobacco goes back more than four centuries. Nicotine, after all, is named after Jean Nicot, a 16th century ambassador to Portugal who took tobacco leaves imported from America to Catherine de Medici as a cure for her migraines."

Bernard Hinault and Zinedine Zidane. Le Louvre and la Tour Eiffel. Coco Chanel and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Champagne and brie. Louis XIV and Dominque de Villepin. Jeans and cigarettes.

France rules!

My favorite line in the Times article was from a French politician, André Santini, a center-right member of Parliament from a Paris suburb and compulsive cigar smoker, “What disturbs me is the ayatollahs you meet everywhere. They tell you how you have to make love, how you have to eat.”

I am guessing he hasn't tried to order pate in Chicago lately.

The truth is almost all of the Europeans I know no longer smoke.

And in the end, Paris is a Virgo city. Virgos for all their obsessions and guilt are health puritans at heart.

a bientot.