Smoking in... Frankfurt?

So you know I am all crazy about fitness and health. Well then you would also know that I hate smoking (though I do hold some smokers very close to my heart despite their nicotine habit). As you are aware most of the world is going non-smoking… even in Milan is had been banned everywhere (if you smoke indoors in Milan it is like you insulted Gucci, Pucci and Prada all in one sentence) and now even in NYC they are on the brink of banning smoking on the street.

Now… when we think of Germany, we always think of being outdoors, lush, green forests, perhaps an Apple strudel and always in the top 10 in the Olympics… Germany is a nation that loves the outdoors (and to prove this, out of a country of 80m people, their largest city is 3m – so they choose to live and respect the outdoors). So you can imagine my shock… and I mean I was practically foaming at the mouth, when I went clubbing last weekend and discovered that they still allow smoking in clubs. There is a smoking and non-smoking section.

Now I hear smokers around the world groan (too bad, hear me out… smoke on your cigarette)… but the smoking/non-smoking thing does not work. Why? Because people ultimately gravitate towards the smokers’ section, which is always bigger and more modern and plays R&B (the non-smokers room always resembles a club from the 80s and is filled by non-smokers because these people get their kicks from other substances and by default do not smoke). So the smoking/non-smoking law cancels itself out and by default you technically have a smokers club.

Apparently after some research (also called bitching to the poor Germans who would hear me out) I was told that only in Bavaria is there a 100% smoking ban and apparently Berlin is super-strict with smoking, which is surprising because I’d have guessed that a city like Berlin is so laissez-faire smoking a cigarette in kindergarten wouldn’t go amiss there but… ok… I am not a Berliner… I am now a Frankfurter and I plan to change this law… one club at a time…