Places Eleanor Walker Wants to Go

A throwback train ride transports passengers through one of the lesser-known national parks in the country.

This road in the Great Smoky Mountains was supposed to assuage a displaced community, but ended up a $52 million dead end.

It was meant to help transport wounded soldiers to a secret underground hospital.

The scant remains of this flooded historic village can be explored in one of the most remote areas of the Great Smokies.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

This quirky Korean eatery is built to resemble an equally quirky vintage camera.

A massive cave complex boasts some of the clearest water (and most charming bats) in the world.

Nine Gardens in one—with tea service.

A beautiful bamboo trail tucked in this famous Japanese shrine.

An abandoned relic of the city's failed experiment with below ground transit.

The quintessential Japanese rock garden has existed for more than 500 years.

This Japanese national treasure was originally built in 593.

A historic London pub with prison cells in the cellar and a "spy room" on the second floor.

This Buddhist temple is home to the graves of the Japanese national legends, the 47 Ronin.

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

Ride the subways of yesteryear.

The oldest hotel in the world has been operated by the same family for over 1,300 years, even catering to samurai.

Philadelphia boasts one of the best — and most often overlooked — traditional Japanese gardens in North America.

Stepping away from the glitz of mobsters and casinos to learn about the other history of Vegas.

A 70-foot-deep ice cave formed by lava from Mt. Fuji on the edge of Japan's "Suicide Forest." 

A monk-run winery inside a Buddhist temple celebrates Japan's crown grape varietal.

Abandoned railway line circling the city of Paris.

This abandoned subway station beneath the Waldorf-Astoria hotel is allegedly used to secretly transport presidents.