This Paris art space celebrates the creativity and ingenuity that springs from abject poverty, especially in Africa.

Remains of Roman amphitheater hidden in a sleepy quarter of Paris.

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

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

San Francisco Bay's ghost town.

From the Difference Engine to the Cray-1, all under one roof.

A massive ultra-modern church presents a science-fiction view of Catholicism's inclusive future.

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.

International delicatessen has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 110 years.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

A semi-scholarly approach to sex.

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.

The site of the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The oldest operating apothecary in the US has treated everyone from Thomas Edison to Mark Twain.

New York's unstoppable progress turned this cemetery into the smallest burial ground in the city.

One of the largest underground systems runs under Canada's largest urban center.

The original "capsule building" is a masterpiece of Metabolist architecture.

A bronze statue dating back as far as 1252, still has remnants of gold on its right cheek from ancient gilding.

An ordinary pond with fish from out of this world.

A 20-meter (65-foot) robot towers over Tokyo Bay.

A rare festival blending religion, blacksmiths, vagina dentata, sex workers, and the straight-up facts of life.

A small metropolis of Pueblo cave dwellings have been carved right into the hillside of this national monument.

This museum started as a collection of Manhattan Projects and continues to add exhibits as they are declassified.

This innocuous New Mexico storefront was once the secret jump-off spot for Manhattan Project scientists.