Seeing the World Through Kids’ Eyes
Seeing the World Through Kids’ Eyes
![A young girl stands in the foreground, in front of a large stone arch. Behind her are dozens of tourists.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-06-btcf/00disposable-cover-06-btcf-tmagSF.jpg)
![A young boy wearing a brown stocking cap and a dark coat takes a selfie in front of stone structures and a partly cloudy blue sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-04-hwlk/00disposable-cover-04-hwlk-tmagSF.jpg)
Villum Vejlin Søgaard
![Two girls wearing stocking caps stand in the foreground, with only their heads visible. In the background is the Washington Monument, set against a cloudy sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-02-kgfb/00disposable-cover-02-kgfb-tmagSF.jpg)
Islie Pringle
![A young boy in a hat and a blue-and-green coat stands near the base of the Eiffel Tower. Behind him, several other people are walking past on a path.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-05-zwjk/00disposable-cover-05-zwjk-tmagSF.jpg)
TK ceylan3
![A young boy with a buzzed head, wearing a red-and-blue flannel shirt, stands in a grassy field, with the legs and feet of three other people visible in the backround.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-03-cjfl/00disposable-03-cjfl-tmagSF.jpg)
Thomas Mendoza
![A young girl in a grey coat stands in the foreground, visible only from the waist up. In the background is the Colosseum, with several dozen people walking near its base.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-07-hlwf/00disposable-cover-07-hlwf-tmagSF.jpg)
Julia Segura
![A young girl wearing a white-and-blue striped shirt stands in front of an elaborately carved statue and an intricately decorated building.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/27/multimedia/00disposable-cover-01-qthg/00disposable-cover-01-qthg-tmagSF.jpg)
Sophie Vermeer
To find out how children’s travel experiences differ from their parents’, we enlisted families around the world to share their perspectives — and their pictures.
Riding atop his father’s shoulders, Villum Vejlin Sogaard arrived at the gate to board the ferry departing from Lower Manhattan like a miniature, triumphant explorer.
His eyes darted from the downtown skyline to souvenir vendors to fellow tourists with tickets in hand. It was the 6-year-old’s first time in the United States and he was about to see one of the country’s iconic landmarks: the Statue of Liberty.
“I think it’s a must-see when you’re in the city,” said Simon Vejlin Sogaard, Villum’s father, who had traveled with several other family members from their home in Denmark. “It’s a great piece of history. And it was actually even more interesting to know the history behind the statue and what it stands for — which, I think, is more important.”
Villum was perhaps too young to appreciate, as his father did, what the statue represents. Instead, when he reached Liberty Island and made his way up the steps to cast his eyes on the giant green woman, her arm extended with a torch, he was awed mainly by her sheer scale.
![The Statue of Liberty, with its green copper patina, stands atop its stone base, in front of a bright blue and partly cloudy sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-03-gwzk/00disposable-03-gwzk-mobileMasterAt3x-v2.jpg)
Marissa Kifolo, 13
New York City
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
![A large ferry boat, labeled “Lady Libert,” sits alongside a dock. In the background, in the distance, is the Statue of Liberty.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-04-gwzk/00disposable-04-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Lola Outwin-Gutierrez, 11
“I took pictures of the Statue of Liberty — of her — when we got closer. My favorite part was just seeing the Statue of Liberty. And looking at how they all immigrated. The history.”
![A pigeon walks across a wooden platform. In the background is a metal fence, behind which about a dozen people’s feet and legs are visible.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-07-gwzk/00disposable-07-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Aarav Anand, 7
![Lower Manhattan is seen in the distance from the deck of a boat. One World Trade Center stands out from the rest of the buildings, towering over the scene.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-06-gwzk/00disposable-06-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Lola Outwin-Gutierrez, 11
“So many different people come here. It’s just really cool that New York is so famous.”
![The face of a young child, evidently having taken a selfie, is seen through a glaring sunspot.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-05-gwzk/00disposable-05-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Villum Vejlin Sogaard, 6
![A blue and partly cloudy sky is foregrounded by part of the Statue of Liberty, which is seen from an unusual angle, with the photographer looking up from its base.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-08-gwzk/00disposable-08-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Villum Vejlin Sogaard, 6
![An elevated view of the edge of Liberty Island is seen from a lookout on the Statue of Liberty. In the distance is Lower Manhattan.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-09-gwzk/00disposable-09-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Villum Vejlin Sogaard, 6
“When we walked up the stairs and saw the view. That was the top of his day.”
![A tuft of red red hair billows in a breeze. In the background is a bank of bright clouds that are mostly covering a blue sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-10-gwzk/00disposable-10-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Villum Vejlin Sogaard, 6
![Several birds fly in front of a mostly cloudy sky. The very top of a ferry boat is visible at the bottom of the frame.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-12-gwzk/00disposable-12-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Andrew Ktorides, 8
![A bird flies in front of a cloudy gray sky, which takes up most of the frame. Several buildings in Lower Manhattan can be seen at the bottom right of the image.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-11-gwzk/00disposable-11-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Andrew Ktorides, 8
The differences in the perspectives of Mr. Vejlin Sogaard and his young son are emblematic of what many families experience while vacationing, and they raise questions frequently asked by parents around the world: Do young children benefit from traveling to new places? If so, how? Do they find value in seeing historical landmarks and museums? And how might a trip through a child’s eyes differ from their parents’ perspective?
We set out to learn just that.
This year, The New York Times dispatched a team of reporters to popular tourist landmarks in several cities across the world, from Washington, D.C., to Bangkok. At each location, a parent and their child were both given disposable cameras and were tasked with taking photographs of what they each found most interesting. Their photographs offered us some insights into what caught their eyes.
“Culture. Knowing things from history. New experiences.” These were some of the things Maria Segura wanted her children to take away from their visit to the Colosseum in Rome. Her husband, Alberto, hoped a trip would increase their curiosity and thirst for knowledge. They had brought their three children with them from their home in Madrid.
“I like a lot of history,” said Julia, the Seguras’ 10-year-old daughter, whose expectations seemed to align with those of her parents. “It’s for understanding the present.”
Unlike her mother, though, who photographed sweeping views of the reddish brown stone and concrete that encircled the ancient amphitheater, Julia was drawn to a miniature model of the site inside the museum. In fact, she was among several children interviewed there who identified the model, a dollhouse-like replica, as their favorite part of the trip.
What did her 6-year-old brother David like the most?
“All of it,” David said. “Nothing in particular. Wait, the model. I liked the model, too. And the sea gulls.”
Their younger sister, Iria, didn’t have an opinion — not because she was only 3, but because she spent most of the trip in her stroller, asleep.
![A slew of ancient stone and brick buildings, pillars and arches stand in the background, with lush green bushes and trees forming the foreground.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-09-bhgt/00disposable-09-bhgt-mobileMasterAt3x-v4.jpg)
Victoria Mille, 12
Rome
The Ancient City
![A young child with a pacifier in his mouth sits at the base of a large stone sculpture. In the distance are several other people.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-06-bhgt/00disposable-06-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Victoria Mille, 12, took a picture of her younger brother, Clement, 4
![A child, wearing a yellow winter coat and taking a selfie, stands inside the Colosseum. In the background are dozens of visitors standing near the structure’s walls.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-04-bhgt/00disposable-04-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Adrián Molina-Peinado, 13
“All those monuments, I am studying them at school. And I love history and geography. We didn’t get enough time for the Forum though. The guide was cool.”
![A camera aimed upward shows the highly decorated underside of a large stone archway.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-07-bhgt/00disposable-07-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Baptiste Mille, 10
![A decorative frieze, showing two winged animals, along with several other sculptural designs, hangs on the side of an ancient brick wall.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-14-vtbm/00disposable-14-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Baptiste Mille, 10
![A series of decorative sculptural elements, possibly a fountain, are covered in what looks like thick bands of green algae.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-08-bhgt/00disposable-08-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Baptiste Mille, 10
![A seagull, with webbed yellow feet, stands in front of the vast expanse of the interior of the Colosseum.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-05-bhgt/00disposable-05-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Julia Segura, 10
![A circular hole in decorative domed ceiling — the Pantheon, in Rome — lets in a ray of light in a relatively dark interior.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-02-bhgt/00disposable-02-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Emma Marchisio, 11
“I wish we went to the underground tunnels as well. But we didn’t.”
![Monolithic columns on the portico of the Pantheon in Rome sit beneath lettering that reads “M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT.”](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-01-bhgt/00disposable-01-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Emma Marchisio, 11
![A small-scale model of the Colosseum, in Rome, is on display inside a museum gallery.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-15-vtbm/00disposable-15-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Adrián Molina-Peinado, 13
![One edge of the Colosseum is visible on the right beside a small construction site. In the distance are green fields and trees.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-03-bhgt/00disposable-03-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Adrián Molina-Peinado, 13
![A young boy with brown hair takes a selfie with the Colosseum in the distance behind him. Several dozen other tourists can be seen behind him.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-13-vtbm/00disposable-13-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Baptiste Mille, 10
“Such a beautiful view. Just wished there were fewer people. It would have been more cool.”
![Five sculpted heads sit inside a display case, each showing signs of deterioration.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-10-bhgt/00disposable-10-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
David Segura, 6
Even according to historians, appreciating the formal lessons of the past isn’t the most important thing to be gained from traveling.
“It is not all about rather dreary lessons in history,” Mary Beard, the British scholar and author of “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,” wrote in an email, tightening her lens specifically on museums. “The great thing about museums for kids (and grown ups) is that they are places of wonder, shock, puzzlement. One of my own earliest memories is wonderment at a 3,500 year old piece of Egyptian cake in the British Museum.”
“I sometimes get a terrible sinking feeling when I see parents feeling that they have to make a visit to a museum a long history lesson,” she added. “Well occasionally that can be useful, I guess. But really, going to a museum is about learning to think differently.”
That was partly the approach taken by two families from Denmark who were also visiting the Colosseum. Hien Nguyen, one of the mothers, recently watched the movie “Gladiator” with her kids and was excited to show her children the Colosseum in real life.
“We wanted the kids to see things very ancient, to see how old humanity is,” she said, adding that she was happy that her children could experience the place for themselves.
“We believe that building experience is more important for kids than giving them, you know, stuff,” Ms. Nguyen said.
She may be right.
“If you think about your patterning of who you are as a person, most of that came from the first decade of your life, when our worldview is still being constructed,” said Erin Clabough, a neuroscientist, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and the author of a book about how neuroscience can inform parenting.
“When someone approaches a problem, or any kind of situation in their life, they’re bringing with them this tool kit that they have from all of their prior experiences that they can draw from,” Dr. Clabough explained. And visiting different cultures can add to that tool kit, by offering children new ways to think, to do and to know, she said, all of which can help them “navigate the world in a fuller way.”
“You’re giving them possibility, in a way, of all the things that could be,” she added. “And I also think not just creativity, but it also really helps to cultivate empathy.”
![About a dozen visitors are seen walking on a stone pathway toward the Washington Monument, which, visible in the background, rises to more than 555 feet.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-20-bhgt/00disposable-20-bhgt-mobileMasterAt3x-v2.jpg)
Islie Pringle, 11
Washington, D.C.
The National Mall
![A woman stands beside a larger-than-life sculpture of a man reclining on bench.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-21-bhgt/00disposable-21-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Thomas Mendoza, 8
![A finger partially obscures the view of a the Jefferson Memorial, a neoclassical monument made of white marble. Several tourists are seen ascending and descending its steps.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-23-bhgt/00disposable-23-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Thomas Mendoza, 8
![A camera, aimed upwards, shows the statue of Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-22-bhgt/00disposable-22-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Islie Pringle, 11
![Dozens of visitors explore the World War II Memorial, standing and walking among the scene.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-24-bhgt/00disposable-24-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Islie Pringle, 11
“We wanted to stop in Washington D.C. to see another nation’s capital.”
![The Korean War Veterans Memorial shows several sculptures of soldiers marching through a field .](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-01-gwzk/00disposable-01-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Arianna Cooper, 12
![Two shadows of people are cast on the face of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, made of black granite.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-25-bhgt/00disposable-25-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Arianna Cooper, 12
“My favorite was probably the stuff I could, like, run around. I liked a lot of tall stuff.”
![A large tree stands near a walking path that runs along a small waterway. People are dotted along the path.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-02-gwzk/00disposable-02-gwzk-tmagSF.jpg)
Islie Pringle, 11
There is a beauty in the simplicity of what fascinates a child. So while adults might marvel at the magnificence of a mosaic that has kept its color for centuries, a child’s interest could be drawn elsewhere, to things seemingly more trivial.
Claudia Vermeer was traveling with her two daughters, Emma, 12, and Sophie, 10. Their home is in Germany, but they were on their seventh month of a trip that was taking them around the world.
The family had finally reached Thailand, the 11th country they’d visited on their tour, and were exploring Wat Pho, one of several sprawling royal temples on the Chao Phraya River in the heart of Bangkok. The site is famous for its many stupas, statues and a gleaming, golden, 151-foot-long reclining Buddha statue.
Ms. Vermeer was continually surprised at how different her perspective was from her daughters, she said.
“They see what I wouldn’t see and they experience things differently,” Ms. Vermeer said. “In general, I want to open their horizons and make them tolerant people.”
Inside the sun-soaked buildings with intricate trims, beautifully decorated objects were on display, as was the grand statue of Buddha, reclined and welcoming visitors. But what caught Sophie’s eye were little bronze bowls, more than 100 of which lined the hall for tourists to place their donations and make a wish. This pleased Sophie.
“I liked to put the little coins into the bowls,” she said.
![A series of decorative buildings — with tall spires and intricately carved ornamentation — stand together at Wat Pho, in Bangkok.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-01-vtbm/00disposable-01-vtbm-mobileMasterAt3x-v2.jpg)
Amaury Avenas, 11
Bangkok
Wat Pho
![A statue, green-blue in color, shows a man with a long beard holding a staff of some kind. The sculpture is elaborately decorated with intricate patterns.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-04-vtbm/00disposable-04-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Lila Mikosza, 7
![A bright orange finger obscures the right half of a photograph. On the left is an intricately decorated structure holding what looks like a large bell.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-03-vtbm/00disposable-03-vtbm-tmagSF-v2.jpg)
John Ajegram Esperanza, 7
![A young person wearing a blue t-shirt and a long yellow skirt strikes a large metal gong with a large hammer. A sign above the gong reads, “please hit gently.”](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-02-vtbm/00disposable-02-vtbm-tmagSF-v2.jpg)
Amaury Avenas, 11
“We like to visit churches. There’s very big differences between temples and churches. The colors. At home they are all faded.”
![A yellow and white cat lounges on a floor made of large stone tiles. Behind the cat, a few feet are visible.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-05-vtbm/00disposable-05-vtbm-tmagSF-v2.jpg)
Lila Mikosza, 7
![A stone sculpture of an animal sits on a small stone base. The sculpture is very well worn.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/travel/00disposable-06-vtbm-rotated/00disposable-06-vtbm-rotated-tmagSF.jpg)
Lila Mikosza, 7
![Elaborately decorated pyramid-like structures stand in a small courtyard, in front of a large white building with a colorful and elaborately decorated roof.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-07-vtbm/00disposable-07-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Sophie Vermeer, 10
“The big Buddha; it’s big.”
![A large sculpture of a bearded man holding some kind of staff stands beside an elaborately decorated building.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-10-vtbm/00disposable-10-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Lila Mikosza, 7
![Another large sculpture of a bearded man holding some kind of staff stands beside an elaborately decorated building.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-11-vtbm/00disposable-11-vtbm-tmagSF-v2.jpg)
John Ajegram Esperanza, 7
“They see what I wouldn’t see and they experience things differently. In general, I want to open their horizons and make them tolerant people.”
![A darkly lit photograph shows the shiny golden face of a sculpture in an interior space.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-08-vtbm/00disposable-08-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Sophie Vermeer, 10
![In an interior space, the sculpture of a seated figure sits in front of a large, shiny golden surface.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-09-vtbm/00disposable-09-vtbm-tmagSF.jpg)
Sophie Vermeer, 10
Youthful fixations can be as uncontrollable as they are unpredictable.
On a recent day in Paris, at the tail end of winter, the weather was overcast and gray. Sandra Yar had brought her 5-year-old son, Noah, here from Germany for the first time. They had visited a few other places popular with tourists — Versailles, the Louvre — and now it was time for Noah to see the Eiffel Tower.
Despite standing in the shadow of one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, a tower of stitched iron that rose more than 1,000 feet above him, Noah was drawn instead to the pocket-size items that were being hawked on the ground: little Eiffel Tower key chains. He couldn’t wait to show them to his friends in his kindergarten class.
“Paris is really beautiful, but the next time we come without our child,” Ms. Yar said. It was hard to visit with her young son, she said, because he was “too young to understand that five key chains are more than he needed.”
![The intricately designed midsection of the Eiffel Tower, made of iron, stands out against a white sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-11-bhgt/00disposable-11-bhgt-mobileMasterAt3x-v3.jpg)
Jean Oyhenart, 15, and Benoit Oyhenart, 9
Paris
Eiffel Tower
![A woman in a heavy black coat and wearing a bright red scarf holds two “peace” signs in the air, using both of her hands.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-12-bhgt/00disposable-12-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Yuna Rozes, 4, took a picture of her aunt, Lou Rozes
![On the right, a woman wearing a bright red coat holds a disposable camera up to her face, aimed at the viewer. On the left is a man wearing a long black coat.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-15-bhgt/00disposable-15-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Yuna Rozes, 4, took a picture of her mother, Alix Rozes
![A richly blue and partly cloudy sky is seen through a metal-wire cage.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/04/02/multimedia/00disposable-14-bhgt/00disposable-14-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Petr Terentev, 8
![The edge of the Eiffel Tower is visible on the right in a photograph that largely displays a blue and partly cloudy sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-16-bhgt/00disposable-16-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Petr Terentev, 8
![The Eiffel Tower is visible at the bottom left of an image from a camera aimed up toward the sky. Most of the picture frame is taken up by the blue and partly cloudy sky.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-19-bhgt/00disposable-19-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Petr Terentev, 8
![A cityscape of Paris, as seen from a lookout on the Eiffel Tower.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-17-bhgt/00disposable-17-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Petr Terentev, 8
![A large glass bubble encloses some kind of heavy machinery.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2023/03/22/multimedia/00disposable-18-bhgt/00disposable-18-bhgt-tmagSF.jpg)
Petr Terentev, 8
Back in New York City, after returning from Liberty Island, Villum, the 6-year-old boy from Denmark, had transformed from an energetic and curious child, propped on his father’s shoulders, to a weary and quiet boy, standing between family members and waiting for someone to declare that the day was over.
By the looks of the pictures he took that day, it’s clear what had happened:
He most likely spent a good portion of his energy at Liberty Island trying to peek over the walls and rails that were too tall for him to easily see over.