Down the Rabbit Hole

I’ve been obsessed with Alice in Wonderland lately. I decided it was high time I read the book, and I quickly fell in love with Lewis Carroll, as well as his original illustrator.

To me, New York City is quite a lot like Wonderland. It’s confusing, there are strange people and it’s easy to get lost. But it’s also fun, exciting, filled to the brim with imagination and becomes exponentially more enjoyable if you’re willing to just “go with it.” Who knows, maybe next time I eat one of those street-vendor falafels it will make me shrink or grow.

In any case, I decided to have an Alice in Wonderland-themed day (or perhaps Kristin in Wonderland), where I visited all of the Alice locales I could find around New York City.

The first stop: the famous Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park.

It’s a particularly charming statue because there are always children climbing on it. I think it’s rather appropriate. The man who donated the statue wanted it that way. It’s in honor of his late wife who “loved all children.”

Next up, after a looooong stroll, I stopped in at the 50^th street station (on the 1 line) where there are some fantastic Alice in Wonderland murals:

I ended the day at an adorable café called Alice’s Tea Cup (102 W 73^rd Street), where they had every kind of tea imaginable, delicious sandwiches, highly tempting desserts and – of course – a lot of awesome Alice memorabilia.

The Queen of Hearts made some tarts. And I ate them. (Shh, don't tell.)

A couple of days later, I met a poet in Washington Square who did “poetry while you wait” and I engaged him to write me a poem. When he asked for a subject, I said, “New York City as Wonderland.” He busted out this awesome poem: