An idyllic hotel that gave its name to a supposed shadow government.

The first North American landing spot for James Cook on his third voyage of discovery in the Pacific.

World's largest porcine hairball sits in a collection maintained by Benedictine monks.

Only known mainland rookery of the threatened Stellar sea lion.

An institution that preserves the history of institutionalization.

10,000 flowered plants bloom in the City of Roses.

This Netherlands museum holds a gloriously mechanical collection of ornate musical automata.

This still-celebrated home was a radical architectural experiment in 3D De Stijl.

'The Letters of Utrecht' lays out a ribbon of poetry one letter at a time, with no final verse in sight.

These slanted cubic abodes are a creative if odd solution to a zoning pickle.

The highest point in Belgium is a staircase to nowhere.

A beautiful maze marks where three countries meet.

This giant urban staircase was built to keep the city's brave fighting men from getting waylaid in the red light district.

This narrow Ghent alleyway is an officially sanctioned street art tunnel.

The "stairway to heaven" lookout tower was built to resist weather, arson, and the laws of physics.

The Belgian library displays burned books that were salvaged from the fires of both world wars.

This whimsical statue dumps water on its head to symbolize knowledge flowing into his brain. Or maybe booze.

Six turbines towering over a wide road for passersby.

This Belgian palace was long the domain of priests and aristocrats but is now being turned into an art commune.

Lavish royal estate punctuated with heated greenhouses.

Berlin's beloved bear is immortalized at the Museum für Naturkunde.

The site of the famous Nazi book burning campaign of 1933 remembers its "Night of Shame".

A fascinating insight into daily life in the Eastern Bloc.

Berlin's natural history museum houses the world's largest mounted dinosaur and the late beloved polar bear Knut.