The kids used to hate going to Europe. They wanted to stay home and have sleepovers all summer long instead of hanging out in strange places where people ride in underground trains and speak in strange languages. One thing they always did was keep journals where they drew pictures of things they’d seen and write about the trip and how much they missed home.
Here’s a drawing Spanky did of the Paris Metro (subway) with the street above it. She was about 8 years old when she drew it.
It’s one of my favorite drawings because it is so thorough. The sun above the rain clouds, the kid in the car, the advertisements in the Metro station (the woman’s head below the Metropolitain sign is an ad that was pasted to the walls) as well as the variety of people in the metro cars. The ones holding the poles crack me up.
The Show Must Go On 
I love that drawing.
I love that you kept this….. and posted it. My inner child loves you…..LOL Although she doesn’t want to go to Europe either because she’s afraid to fly over the ocean……. : )
Makes me want to go to back to Paris – :::sigh:::
I think it is great that you take your kids travelling.
Great drawing too.
What do you mean “makes you want to go back”? You are going back. You are getting that cool little apartment in Paris so disenchanted writer chicks have a place to crash when they run away from home. Off off, to call the real estate agent and book that flight.
Spanky must be very perceptive. I love those little details, like the “Oh la la” on that poster or the windshield wipers. Beautiful drawing. Beautiful.
She is incredibly perceptive. She drew this hours after we’d been to the Metro, later that night in the hotel room. You are perceptive, too, Sophia, noticing the windshield wipers.
Yeah, Michele, Max and the gang are coming. Get the place ready.
Jennifer, are you really afraid of flying over water? I think you’d sleep right through it.
I love that! I found an old drawing of my son’s recently — it’s a high-tech bird, complete with lizard bombs and a water cup.
what a talented girl… takes after her mom. taught me something, too. i’d never made the connection between Metro and Metropolitain. just thought of it as the Metro.
SPOILER:
i have to go back in two weeks. three weeks in Paris and maybe one in Budapest.
In a weird way I did go to Europe. I was on Amazon and it turned out to Amazon UK.
( I think I am so funny thees days) Then I met this guy there…..Paul the Hypnotist I ordered his CD all the way from europe becase I am supersititous……. any way I quit smoking and lost my fear of flying trans Atlantic……. but I still have a fat ass………… I ‘ve been thinking to listen to the quit smoking CD and then I’d loose weight.. ha ha ha .. Just proves I am twisted…… My sister is getting married in France, it would be nice to go. How did you do it with kids???
Boz, lizard bombs? LOL. Reminds me of a drawing my son did with a “shark knife.” Took a while for us to realize he meant “sharp knife.”
Brut, you have got to start a blog so we can read all about your travels and bloody kneecaps. Budapest is on my list of places to see. Happy trails, dude.
Jennifer, you should go to your sister’s wedding. Get your tickets early. Travelling with children is not difficult. Taking them places here or there, it’s all the same thing. What’s really cool is how open minded they are and how easily they pick up new languages.
Paris here we come!
Oh la la, crepes chez Michele.
That’s great. I have a picture that Kelsy drew about possibly having an airplane crash that is really good. How did you post this?
Extraordinare, cheri.
This pic reminds me of one of those old cartoons where it only rains on the car and the rain follows the car, but in front and behind it, the weather is fine.
Cfo, I scanned it and saved it as a jpg image. From there I uploaded it right onto WordPress.
AJ, What always surprised me about this picture is Spanky’s awareness that the sun still existed even when it rained. And that’s sun with an attitude (see the eyeroll). I’m pretty sure that at that age my rainy day pictures didn’t have a sun in them above the clouds.
Party at Michele’s. Yay!
Bring Spanky, she can do all our portraits. Then we will put her to work doing sidewalk drawings to pay for our hooch.
Max, you so crack me up. LOL.
I had one of those charcoal portraits done at Montmarte when I was in my 20’s. It was with my mother, and she felt she looked old next to me, so she went back and had hers done alone.
This drawing is adorable. And, can I also say, it could be pointing out what a genious Spanky is. There is a popular IQ test for children where you have a child draw an everyday thing (popular one is to have pre-schoolers draw people) and derive IQ roughly thru the details included.
Hey, thanks slynne. Good to see you around again.
Michelle, I had this guy draw the girl’s portraits there too, by the water tower. He had on a straw hat and looked just like Van Gogh in his self-portrait. We went back a couple of years later and saw the same guy out there again with that same hat on. I had my son with me that time and got him to do his portrait.
Oh I see right where this straw hat guy story is going. Spanky wants accessories. Crafty. Very crafty.
Poor Spanky. Last year, in England, Sweetpea and I were up in the middle of the night, jet-lagged to hell and crazy brainstorming while Spanky snoozed. We cracked ourselves up with this idea to dress up Spanky as “Emo-baby” because she’s so pale and was drawing lots of attention at this crazy three day rock fest we were attending. We wanted to put some dark eyeliner on her with a couple of little tears rolling off her cheek. She had a fit when she found out about he plot.
You are not supposed to talk about it and tell the person when he or she wakes up, you are supposed to do it while he or she is asleep so it is already done when he or she wakes up. You whacky kids.
Oh, us whacky kids know better than to prank Spanky while she’s sleeping, she’d kill us so hard we’d die to death.
hi Kitty,
your travel’s are really amazing, love to read these posts and iam making this comment after a long break [dont mind], busy with my work, but when i come here i feel really very natural [like breathing fresh air] and keep writing.[Travel posts]
regards,
kumar.
Thanks Kumar, great to see you around.