Places EricaInCA Wants to Go

The oldest stone house in Paris was built by its most famous alchemist.

Gargoyle head that brings good luck.

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

Tiny museum with unusual specimens.

Venice's island of the dead.

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

Dunk your churros in rich hot chocolate on the city’s old “Chocolate Street.”

A colorful street named for the legendary Australian rock band.

This electric green sulphur lake in New Zealand looks like a cartoonish radioactive dump site.

This sheep farm has been forever transformed since being built for “The Hobbit” film series.

These concrete crustaceans are actually public restrooms.

A charmingly old-fashioned reminder of the historic building's former life.

Inside this faux cave, visitors can learn how some of their favorite fantasy characters were created.

A bronze kitty adorns the grave of the polar explorer who brought the original feline to the Antarctic.

New Zealand's oldest prison holds a dark history and the scars of a deadly earthquake.

One of New Zealand’s few castles boasts beautiful gardens, grand architecture, and a history filled with family drama.

One of the world's largest pianos is displayed in the workshop of the man who built it as a teenager.

A 19th-century perch for spotting sailing ships now boasts one of the most iconic views in the Southern Hemisphere.

A rare specimen of an iconic extinct animal in downtown Sydney.

The bones of this aquatic dinosaur turned to opal over the centuries and the beast's remains were almost sold as jewelry.

The statue honors an adventurous seafaring cat.

Provincetown's night owls flock to this 52-year-old pizza joint.

The burial place of an obscure North African saint was turned into a macabre body preservation factory for the 17th-century Neapolitan elite.

This amazingly well-preserved villa just outside Pompeii boasts rare examples of ancient Roman paintings.