"And neither of us could find our way back to any one of them unless we took a sight-seeing bus again!" Peggy said. "Why, we've hardly begun! I've been checking off where we've been on my city map and guidebook, and we haven't seen anything but the sights the guides think are picturesque! I saw loads of places that we just shot by that I'd love to go back and explore when we have time; and the guidebook lists hundreds of things that we didn't even come near! Did you know that there are Italian street festivals, and an Indian mosque, and a Spanish museum, and shops that sell nothing but cheeses from every country in the world, and an Armenian district, and a Greek one, and Russian restaurants, and Japanese, and French and German and Turkish and Mexican and...." She ran out of breath and stopped, eyes shining with excitement.
"My goodness!" Amy said. "You make it sound like a World's Fair!"
"It is. It's the biggest permanent World's Fair anywhere, and we have a chance to see it without anything to take our minds off it from now until school starts!"
"Your energy just scares me," Amy said in a make-believe little-girl voice, accentuating her Southern drawl. "Ah'm afraid you'll just have to carry li'l ol' me."
"I'm afraid you'll have to do the carrying," Peggy retorted, "unless I can get these shoes back on! I think all the walking we've done has made my feet three sizes larger!"
Sensibly, they finished the day's excursion with a Fifth Avenue bus ride downtown.
The next few days until the Academy opened were a round of sight-seeing, eating exotic foods in the restaurants of many lands that Peggy had only started to enumerate, and shopping in the famous stores.
The shopping expeditions were among the most exciting things that Peggy and Amy did. The huge stores, crammed with merchandise from all over the world, were like nothing that they had ever seen before. Even the afternoon that Peggy had spent window-shopping with her mother had failed to prepare her for the size and complexity of these shops. Everywhere were rows on rows of dresses, coats, skirts, blouses, robes, and gowns. Counters and showcases displayed incredible arrays of lingerie, purses, shoes, gloves, scarves, and other accessories. And everywhere, at every time of day, the crowds of shoppers clustered as thick as bees around a hive.
