A colorful piece of contemporary art cheerfully clashes with Lyon's historical architecture.

Lyon, France is home to two remarkably preserved Roman theaters, one dating back to 15 BCE.

For hundreds of years, automatons moving to metallic music have been marking the passage of time.

Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.

This surreal statue brings a famous French novel about a supernatural cad to arresting life.

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

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

This statue was given to France by the United States to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution.

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

This modest marker near Notre Dame identifies the very center of Paris.

A horde of stray cats rule in this secluded Parisian cemetery under a bridge.

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.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

"the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well . . . The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges."