Places Duncan Chappell Wants to Go

The world's oldest bookshop still in operation.

A Jenga-style cylindrical tower of books that appears to go on forever.

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

Installed at a chaotic intersection, this gave London traffic cops a place to hang their heavy woolen coats.

A giant desert bird that once swung music fans at Coachella now has a home in a nearby traffic circle.

The townhouse where the English poet created some of his most influential work has been preserved in tribute.

A mysterious pair of mice eating a piece of cheese is London's smallest public sculpture.

This rare collection of human deformities displays fetuses with two faces, one eye, and "mermaid" legs.

The architect of this fanciful complex called it an "oasis for humanity and nature in a sea of rational houses."

The library's graceful rotunda is like a bibliophile's temple.

This graceful little figure is a one-of-a-kind version of the cherished character.

A neighborhood church's unusual abstract stained glass was the final project of avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau.

The world's oldest Jewish library was founded by Sephardic Jews in 17th century Amsterdam.

These expertly crafted, scientifically accurate glass sea creatures were once an international phenomenon.

Martin Bricelj Baraga's monolithic sculpture measures the blueness of the sky, and changes color to match it.

Giant origami sculptures tucked into desert scenery beckon passers-by to explore further.

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

A 19th century library favored by Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, known by locals as "the Ath."

Each of these gorgeous, intricately decorated rooms is painstakingly crafted to the scale of 1 inch: 1 foot.

During the Industrial Revolution this “Temple of Invention” was full of intricate miniature machines and gadgets.

The world's largest clay lick, where parrots gather to snack.

This painted Lego bridge is the product of over a century of locomotive history.

Hidden behind Lincoln's head is a chamber containing enamel plates documenting American history, sealed in a teakwood box in a titanium vault.

This mummified mermaid corpse is an aquatic curio that was eventually revealed to be a fake.