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.

This off-limits room in the National Library of France is home to a system of pneumatic tubes, once used to bring books to readers.

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

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

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

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

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.

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

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

The tradition of open-air secondhand and antiquarian bookselling in Paris dates back to the Renaissance.

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

Once home to one of the oldest banks in the world, this building is also where Marco Polo's famous travelogue was written.

Massive galleon from a box-office bomb docked in Genoa.

This museum was invented in a novel before being made real by the author.

A marvel of Byzantine engineering under the streets of Istanbul.

The Emperor Tiberius' palace of debauchery.

This clifftop arch is a natural stunner.

Bell tower juts out from a village buried under a lake.

This doorless 20th-century elevator doesn't stop or slow down.

One of the famous Czech artist's lesser-known Prague installations appears to be a glowing fetus affixed to a drainpipe.

A series of playful yellow penguins share a serious message about the environment.

The palace window through which Protestant nobles flung two Catholic regents, thus sparking the Thirty Years' War.

This tipsy office building in downtown Prague was originally called “Fred and Ginger.”

A surreal statue honoring Prague's favorite literary son.