Places laurawhitencourtney Wants to Go

The largest and, arguably, most scenic fortress in Bhutan.

This penis-focused monastery is dedicated to Buddhism's "Divine Madman."

The small sanctuaries lie just off the beaten path near one of Bhutan's most famous attractions.

This massive oak tree has ties to the first native tribes of the region and the founders of Texas.

Perhaps the most spectacular grotto along the Algarve coastline.

In Portugal, a secluded stretch of untouched natural beauty hides at the bottom of a steep hill.

At night, bats patrol this magnificent 18th-century space in search of book-eating pests.

A series of abstract, silly sculptures represent the works of a great modern classical composer.

Two awe-inspiring globes from the reign of the Sun King hang from the ceiling of France's national library.

Where the high court feasted, frolicked, and high courtesans put their royal lovers' diamonds to the test.

Noirish green neon marks the location of one of the oldest private detective agencies in France.

Original cabaret handbills, posters, and feline artwork are a purrfect highlight of the Museum of Montmartre.

Pitié-Salpêtrière was the dumping grounds for women who received the dreaded diagnosis of "hysterical."

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.

In the best of all possible worlds, everyone will get a chance to see this statue in which Voltaire's heart is interred.

How did a French journalist’s grave become the sexiest statue in the cemetery?

A subterranean shelter remains intact under a busy Paris railway station.

Medieval museum built over Roman baths that features famous tapestries of a lady and a unicorn.

Behind the pink curtain, Au Bonheur du Jour, an art gallery of erotic archives.

Site of a classic 19th-century physics experiment to prove the earth is rotating.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the 20th century.