Paul Klee had had a lifelong appreciation for classic ocean liners, which began in 1952, when he and his family traveled to Europe aboard French Line’s SS Liberté. The Klees spent a year abroad, before returning to America the following year aboard the SS United States. Young Paul was only eight years old at the time, but memories of that voyage have stuck with him through the years. He writes:
My family had been living in Europe for the past year (we had sailed eastbound on the French Line's Liberté) and I think they felt it might be nice to take the then quite new SS United States home. This was in June 1953, and I still have the log abstract from that voyage [see below], Number 22, Westbound, departing Le Havre on June 12th. We kids (me and my sister) ate at the first seating, my parents in the second. It seems incredible now that we didn't all eat together, but I'm quite certain about this. I also distinctly recall the Meyer Davis Orchestra playing in the dining room (this was in First Class, by the way). My sister and I were not allowed on the outside decks without a parent, which also seems old-fashioned now. And for some reason, a movie I saw aboard, The Juggler with Kirk Douglas, remains a strong memory as well. Despite being a late spring crossing, we hit a June gale on our last day out, June 15. I remember it well, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Luckily I didn't then, and do not now, suffer from heavy weather at sea. The log states: "Winds SSE-Force 7, Rough sea. Heavy SSW'ly swell." A boy about my age whom I had befriended fell out of his upper bunk and broke his arm!“