A century and a half of research in the sciences and natural history, still going strong.

This contorting sculpture is the tallest in San Francisco.

The original place where water met land in the City by the Bay is outlined in brass.

A shining, cold, black organ lies in San Francisco's financial district.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

America's oldest Italian restaurant is a San Francisco institution.

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

A crumbling wizard is one of the final reminders of a roadside Middle Earth.

Humboldt's human-powered sculptures race across land and sea for days on end in a wacky quest for dominance.

A tourist attraction founded around a slumping cabin.

A public fountain that spouts "health water" from a nearby spring.

Shakespeare has been brought to life in this open air theater for the better part of a century.

This ultra-modern California span is actually a titanic solar clock in disguise built by famed architect Santiago Calatrava.

Pillars made of 700 pieces of luggage climb to the ceiling of Sacramento Airport's baggage claim.

Coast along one of Japan’s mountain railways for coveted views of magnificent hydrangeas.

Many people don't realize there’s a lot going on in—and below—the world’s tallest triumphal arch.

These haunting ruins of a 700-year-old Prehispanic city have witnessed centuries of wars and massacres.

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

Atop this former dutch railway office sits an interstellar work of art.

The world's largest bicycle shelter can hold more than 12,500 two-wheelers.