I've Got To Go Now.

I'm usually pretty good about starting and ending conversations, but I was a little off my game recently. You know how it is when you're chatting with a group of familiar people or just one person you know. When you're ready to move on, it's easy to say something like, "Okay. I'll talk to you later." or "Nice talking with you. I've got to get to the store." Then you move away. It goes smoothly and everything is cool.
Then this happened: on my way out of a room, I got into a conversation with a new person. Well, it wasn't a true conversation, because she did most of the talking. It started because I greeted her when she came into the room. She let me know she'd just returned from a trip out of the country. I replied, "I'll bet you took lots of pictures." That was my mistake. She pulled out her cell phone, walked over to me and proceeded to show me what seemed like one hundred pictures. She commented on each picture, and she kept talking when I made a response. My eyes started to cross from all the scrolling images. I wanted to be polite because she seemed to need attention and no one else in the room would talk to her. She was also a "close talker": when I moved back from her, she moved closer to me.  Finally, I could take it no more.  I said, "Thanks. Gotta go now." I got my things from the coat rack, waved goodbye to the others in the room, and and started to leave. I noticed that some of the others  smiled at me with understanding in their eyes as I walked out. Lesson learned.
How would you have handled the situation?
Smiles,
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com