A stone marker and sculpture in the city of Riga stake a claim for the very first community Christmas tree.

A former Latvian headquarters of the brutal KGB secret police is now open as a grim reminder of their atrocities.

This former Nazi labor camp is now a poignant memorial, complete with giant Soviet-style monuments.

Man-made mineral caves house massive bat colony.

This peculiar border irregularity is the only way to legally enter Russia without a visa.

First point in the Struve Geodetic Arc, a 19th century undertaking to measure the Earth's size and shape.

This disappearing geyser has been attributed to witchcraft, but really it's all about rainfall.

The oldest church in the Estonian capital is home to over 100 fantastical cemetery coats-of-arms.

The oldest continuously operating pharmacy in Europe.

"There's nothing there," and other lies the KGB told us.

An empty relic of the Moscow Olympics crumbles away in Estonia's capital.

A forgotten remnant of the Soviet Union, Transnistria is an unrecognized country hidden behind a heavily militarized border between Moldova and Ukraine.

A subterranean house of worship carved right out of the bedrock.

Finland's oldest astronomical observatory once played a crucial role in seafaring and timekeeping.

This endearingly discomfited urinating statue commemorates the sneaky pees had by us all.

This irregularly shaped sea fortress has defended not one but three different sovereign states.

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

This Russian museum stresses the importance of keeping clean and even holds one of Pavlov's dogs.

Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.

A city block packed with whimsical sculptures that seem to be plucked from a tiled fantasy world.

Dozens of padlock-trees along the Moscow River.

Thirteen sculptures in central Moscow graphically depicting vices of the modern world.

World's largest bell sits on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow.

This building holds the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.