This 36-foot-tall bronze Lady Liberty holds a real flaming torch.

The massive, original Colgate Clock is mounted on a defunct factory building that was once a prison.

The oldest operating Mississippi River–style steamboat still navigates the Ohio River.

The Midwestern United States' tribute to Michelangelo is a foam statue sprayed with gaudy gold paint.

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.

Brass cobblestones mark the places where individual Holocaust victims were taken from their homes.

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

An iron dragon with a long neck covered in feathery scales perched above one of Venice's most popular squares.

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

This hidden jockey “walk of fame” celebrates the winning riders of the Kentucky Derby.

This mostly abandoned shopping outlet is now adorned with beautiful graffiti and murals.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.

The world’s largest concentrated solar plant generates as many problems as megawatts.

The largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'

The abandoned train depot now doubles as a well-placed rest stop for those who take the road less traveled.

Located on 420 acres in the high desert, this spiritual center is dedicated to the "science of the future."

The quirky salon doubles as a retro museum run by the world's leading "hairstorian."

An old California photo stand has been turned into a shrine to the cozy art of crochet.

An eclectic trailer park retreat in the middle of the California desert.

A pair of large white marble lions guard this stretch of the Mojave Desert, and it is utterly mysterious how they got there.