Playing Tour Guide for New Zealand

07/27/2010 9:10 PM

By Blagica Bottigliero

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A weekly Sunday errand up State Street resulted in a pleasant chat and tour for a fellow from New Zealand. It was around 11 am. I needed to make the quick jaunt up State Street, zip through Sears, pick up some baby shots and spring back home, stroller and all, in time for the little one's feeding. Mind you, I am an expert State Street navigator. I know the bumps, lumps, cracks and slopes of the sidewalks. I can window shop and make mental notes of the items I need to pick up on my way home from work. I'm close to timing my cadence with the changing of the lights.

When folks see me and my hot pink stroller, watch out. I'm on a mission.

I was at the corner of Congress and State, about to cross over to the north side of the street when I red-headed gentleman asked me about Nordstrom Rack. At first, I didn't understand the question, his accent was thick and I was in pure errand mode. After I digested the question, i realized this fellow was visiting from New Zealand and needed some guidance on State Street shopping. Who am I to NOT share the ins and outs of a good deal? As I was heading up that direction anyway, I decided to play tour guide.

After a few sentences, I learned that my sidewalk neighbor (who was cordial enough to keep a safe walking distance away from me and babe) was in town for a conference. What kind of conference? Why, a Subway sandwich conference, of course. Turns out, this fella's company supplies the bread to the Subway shops in his region. I was about to get caught up in asking sandwich questions, then realized I was veering off into a tangent. Back to business, Blagica.

With one hand on the stroller, I pointed out "Shoe Alley", The Berghoff, Garrett's, State and Madison and directed my mate to other sandwich places he should check out (he was interested in visiting Potbelly and Quizno's). I didn't realize how fast I was talking. I turned to Mr. Subway and he had a glazed look on his face. 'How do you know so much?', he asked. Without hesitation, I replied, 'Because I absolutely love it here'.

Welcome to Chicago, mate!

Oh, Lily's pictures turned out swimmingly. I also managed to buy a #4 Turkey Tom at Jimmy John's AND consume it before stroller nap time ended.


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