A simple plaque on the facade is the only reminder that the treaty ending the American Revolution was signed inside.

The tradition of open-air secondhand and antiquarian bookselling in Paris dates back to the Renaissance.

The Sun King's military models, saved from the Louvre.

This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

A lone cannonball remains lodged in the walls of the Hotel de Sens as a sober reminder of a revolution.

This surreal statue brings a famous French novel about a supernatural cad to arresting life.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

Twelve grave-faced marble angels guard the emperor's tomb at Les Invalides.

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

A surrealist timepiece by the artist of melting clocks.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

A museum of carnival attractions where you are invited to ride the rides.

Two awe-inspiring globes from the reign of the Sun King hang from the ceiling of France's national library.

Noirish green neon marks the location of one of the oldest private detective agencies in France.

This South London cemetery holds the remains of more than 15,000 people.

A sulfuric martian landscape that looks far better than it smells.

The first North American landing spot for James Cook on his third voyage of discovery in the Pacific.

No one knows how this Pacific Northwest spruce tree came to have so many trunks.

On the Oregon coast is a natural hole that seems to be draining the sea.

There's something big lurking beneath the surface of this tiny Oregon park.

The park preserves a single, rare species of carnivorous plant that spells doom for unsuspecting insects.

This historic steamboat is scuttled just a few hundred feet from where it was built over a hundred years ago.

A collection of colorful dinosaurs hidden in an actual rainforest.