Places escapementality Wants to Go

Berlin's old airport.

The world's first and only three-segment bascule bridge folds up into the shape of a capital "N" to let boat traffic through.

This communist behemoth is the heaviest building in the world and a legacy of a brutal regime.

This once-grandiose behemoth of a monument from the socialist era now sits quiet and closed up.

One of Amsterdam's narrowest houses is located right across the canal from its widest.

Three connected pink triangles memorialize persecuted gays and lesbians throughout history.

A Dutch passageway's artistic, aquatic-themed makeover pays tribute to the capital city's famed waterways.

Seven mini rowhouses fill the gap between 54 and 70 Westerstraat.

A beautifully eclectic mix of architectural styles.

A collection of art from Bulgaria's time as a communist state.

This historic black and white monastery is one of Bulgaria's architectural jewels.

This life-size replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame is also a tribute to Princess Diana by default.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

The patron of this extravagant Art Nouveau confection insisted that nothing less than a boat should project from its facade.

Most prolific publishing house in the 1600s open to the public.

Rare wooden escalators lead deep down into an otherwise staggeringly monotonous tiled tunnel.

An open-air sewer system that was covered piece-by-piece over 300 years.

A counter-culture bookstore like no other hides in plain sight in the streets of Paris.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

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

Paris' linguistic guide to the international language of, yes, love.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

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