"Are people hostile? No, absolutely not," said Audrey Milch from Idaho, on one of her regular trips to France. "I feel the contrary: people are going out of their way to show me that they have nothing against Americans.

"The only time I felt uncomfortable was when I found myself next to the march against the war last Saturday: nobody said anything to me, but I felt a real anger against Americans coming from the crowd."

According to Barbara Espenmiller from California, human nature is stronger than politics: "People back home warned me against coming to France. But I said, if you are friendly to people, they will be friendly back. And that's exactly what has happened: we've had very good experiences so far."

Hotels in Paris and on the Cote d'Azur have had plenty of reservations from across the Atlantic cancelled over the past two weeks, but this could be more down to a general fear of travelling -- as was seen during the last Gulf war -- than anger at the French anti-war position or Americans' fear of Gallic hostility.

From within the heavily-fortified building that is the US embassy in Paris, spokesman Len Korycki said that everything is normal and that "we have had no increase in incidents reported to us."

The embassy is, however, inundated with phone calls and emails both for and against the war.

Many of the 100,000-odd Americans living in France are struck by the overwhelming French need to talk about the war.

"I get lots of puzzled questioning, people who want to know what the Americans are up to," says Sean Daly, a New Yorker who has been here for four years.

"I always tell them, 'Remember September 11, 3,000 people were killed. That is the key to understanding what is happening.'"

But, he says, anti-Americansim is so strong, not least in the French media, that it is usually pointless to try and explain.

It is not unheard of for Americans abroad to indulge in a little pre-emptive white-flag waving.

"The other day a friend of mine arrived at a dinner and immediately said, 'I'm an American, but I'm against Bush.' Now that's pretty sad," says Nicole Bacharan, a Franco-American who specialises in French relations with the United States.

Many prefer to keep quiet altogether, says a saleswoman at Brentano's English-language bookshop in Paris, who is married to an American.

"My husband worries that the conversation will degenerate if he gets involved. So he just doesn't speak anymore. Luckily we both agree with each other, otherwise he wouldn't be able to speak to anyone!"

SPACE.WIRE