I've been in other places where I've certainly been mocked for my ignorance, and I deserved it. It's not a huge deal.

This too. If I'm being That Tourist, I'm totally willing to take shit for it.

I had a great tourist/people watching moment years ago when I was hanging out on the front steps of Adler Planetarium. A wedding party pulled up in a limo and piled out to get photos taken with the skyline in the background. Then at least half a dozen groups of tourists started posing for photos with the limo.

You would expect that people coming to NY would have learned the difference between an express and a local train, but no.

I would expect people who live here to know the difference, too, and that's not always the case. Same thing with walking slowly in a group of 3-5. Don't do it! I don't care if you're getting a drink after work!

Same thing with walking slowly in a group of 3-5. Don't do it! I don't care if you're getting a drink after work!

This is what cracks me up about Sex in the City!

Also, when I went off to college, I was very conscious of not becoming one of the Damn Students, as we liked to call them in my neighborhood growing up. This means no group decision-making in the cereal aisle, and no leaving trash wherever you go.

There was recently a HILARIOUS post on my neighborhood Yahoo group asking WTF was up with the F-train in Brooklyn (since it's not an express train except when it is, which is pretty often but also completely random).

So I have no problem with tourists who are confused by the subway, because quite often it just doesn't make any sense. Especially on the weekends when there are construction changes and proportionately fewer riders are natives who understand how to navigate things like the A/F/G Hoyt-Schemmerhorn transfer.

Is it possible it was the only French she knew? "Ou est la bilbiotheque?" is a pretty time-honored phrase from high school French courses.

Hah! I'm not sure. I was under the impression she was actually...French. She was old, too. She said a couple other things around that, but MY french was poor enough that "ou est la bibliotheque" was the only thing I actually caught of what she said, see...;) (I was sitting in a park in a random part of town, waiting for friends to finish their exams so we could go do stuff)

I've had a few other instances where I am a completely lost tourist, and people look at me and go "Do you know where..." and I'm not certain if I'm giving off a "I have MAPS!" vibe, or a "I know where I am!" vibe, or "I won't shoot!" or what.

Chowhound is a good source for restaurant recs across the country, and if you're coming to Chicago, I suggest LTHForum, especially their Great Neighborhood Restaurants list. (That's how I found Podhalanka, the Polish restaurant that shrift, tommyrot, MFNLaw and I went to in February.)

About the Chicago deep dish pizza vs. thin crust pizza debate, I do somewhat agree with Laga in that the pizza type that is sold most often in the Chicago limits is actually the thin crust variety. Usually, I only eat deep dish if I go out to a restaurant; delivery is always thin crust. I love Chicago thin crust--the sweet/spicy sauce in great profusion, sausage and cheese floating on top, ready to come off with the first bite of the small square, and the extra-crispy corner pieces that are always my favorite bits. Yumyumyum.

Same thing with walking slowly in a group of 3-5. Don't do it! I don't care if you're getting a drink after work!

This wouldn't bug me so much if any of these groups ever had the awareness of their surroundings to detect when someone walking faster is behind them, and made room to be passed.

Instead, it usually seems like they think there's no one else one the sidewalk except themselves. Or, if they are aware of other people, they not only don't make room, they go out of their way to make it impossible to pass. Like "How dare you try and pass our slow-moving group taking up the entire sidewalk!!!"

I totally gaffed in Buenos Aires when I refused to eat until the rest of the table had been served. I am hardwired to wait, it seems. I was told later that it definitely wasn't part of their culture, and that it caused stress for the others at the table (who didn't say anything to me at the time) when I waited. Who knew? Javachik didn't.

Have no fear, even my sister forgot about this when my cousin was visiting. She was going on and on about how rude she was for not waiting for everyone. And I was like, why would she wait? I had forgotten how long it had been since my sister was in France.