Places Bkern Wants to Go

This medieval tower is all that remains of the castle where Joan of Arc was held before being burned at the stake.

Sacked by Vikings, blessed by William the Conqueror, dealt a fatal blow during the French Revolution—these ruins have seen it all.

This 1,400-year-old abbey was once a powerhouse for music and intellectualism known across Normandy.

This 12th century, partially destroyed, abbey has had several owners and was seized during the French Revolution.

An art-filled botanical garden and former dyeworks hiding in plain sight.

Inaugurated in 1921, this is one of many statues in France dedicated to the people who died during World War I for their country.

The birthplace of the ferocious William the Conqueror, this castle is awash in medieval history.

This symbol of the French Revolution still stands where it was first planted during the 18th-century.

This enormous "cloth of the conquest" depicts the Norman invasion of England in mind-blowing detail.

Remains of the artificial harbours invented for the Allied invasion of Normandy can still be seen at sea.

Personal garden filled with mosaics made of recycled garbage.

One of Jeff Koons’s largest sculptures and his first commemorative work.

A glamorous hotel that once accommodated French resistance fighters and concentration camp survivors.

An immersive projection art installation uses sound, scale, and light to take visitors inside classic works of art.

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

An off-the-beaten-path boutique stuffed with an eclectic collection of upcycled goods.

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

This Parisian fountain is a little bit fantasy and a little bit nightclub.

A surrealist timepiece by the artist of melting clocks.

Site of a classic 19th-century physics experiment to prove the earth is rotating.

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

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the 20th century.