During the summer months, giant teddy bears take over Paris near Les Gobelins metro station.

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

Remains of Roman amphitheater hidden in a sleepy quarter of Paris.

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

Natural history museum celebrating biodiversity with a parade of taxidermy animals.

This museum houses an imposing skeleton army comprised of creatures great and small.

A gruesome combat between a hunter and a furious momma bear.

Known as the "Dodo Manège," this carousel features a herd of animals that have disappeared—or may be gone soon.

This recessed garden protects thousands of mountain plants by creating its own microclimates.

The woman who helped save 15th-century France was born in this humble home.

An ancient monastery, a locked room, and a mysterious book heist.

This village in the northeast of France is packed with book shops.

Sky ships, planes, and portraits left as unique tokens of hope and thankfulness.

A remote hilltop covered in giant monoliths haunts the Brittany countryside.

If they push on just the right spot, even the weakest person can move this titanic boulder.

Each of these hand-painted wooden boxes, which date to between the 16th and 19th centuries, contains a genuine human skull.

An isolated 17th-century chapel on a remarkable site once dedicated to Celtic sun worship.