Places alessandralee Wants to Go

This bakery and museum offers tours of the tastes and mythology of Aachen's signature spice biscuit—just don't ask for the recipe.

Texas's oldest bakery serves authentic German pastries, including legendary strudel.

From working out of his garage to the James Beard semifinals, one Tucson baker has kept his fan base—and his grains—local.

A 17th-century doorway in a small Sabine village is a portal into the mysteries of alchemy.

A museum of alchemy and a basement laboratory all housed in an ancient building in a Gothic tower.

The birthplace of an eccentric alchemist and possible inspiration for the fictional reanimator of monsters.

An alchemist's “magic door” stands in the middle of a Roman park.

This house proudly displays an interactive and continuously changing exhibit of lawn flamingos.

This adorable birdlike police box is designed based on a play on words.

This wild explosion of color on a disused water tower tells the whimsical tale of a curious puffin.

This small beach park is littered with a collection of unique driftwood sculptures.

A giant roadside black bird marks the location of this eclectic local mall.

The largest of the Fuji Five Lakes is home to an impressive swan population—some real, some with paddles, and one with an observation deck.

An enormous goose sits atop this nest-shaped home.

The taxidermied remains of Charles Dickens' pet raven, which helped inspire one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems.

This Minnesota town celebrated the state's 100-year anniversary by creating a massive ode to nature's smartest bird.

The world's largest floating loon bobs in the lake to kick off an annual festival.

These enlarged egg sculptures represent the native birds of eastern Iceland.

The moving metal works of one troubled artist can still be viewed on his front lawn... for now.

A 250-year-old timepiece-automaton adorned with golden mechanical birds, which still sing to this day.

America's post-nuclear-attack chambers of Congress.

Home of a 28-foot tall stalagmite known as the War Club.

Once connected to the outside world by a single train track, this ghost town is looked after by the National Park Service.

A lighthouse on this West Virginia lake started as a joke, then the forces of nature helped make it a reality.