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

One of the last umbrella repair shops in Paris upholds the nostalgic art of umbrella making.

A surrealist timepiece by the artist of melting clocks.

A Parisian exterminator's shop whose storefront displays stuffed rats hanging from traps.

Saintly bones pressed into a wax effigy of a Catholic superstar.

The remaining relics of the patroness of Paris lie in a chapel under a striking double spiral staircase.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

A 16th-century fountain marks the site of a lost medieval cemetery once filled with mass graves.

With a history of slaughter, feast, and famine, remnants of the pork industry decorate this area--even its church.

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

A 400-year-old church covered floor to ceiling in ex-voto offerings from the faithful.

A grotto-like lodge decorated with gilded mosaics, rocks and a noisy waterfall was the setting for the most sumptuous pleasure house of 1900s Europe.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

A restaurant and lodge in northern Wisconsin which served as a clandestine hideout for John Dillinger and featured one of the most famous botched FBI raids in history.

The watery grave of an impractical idea.

A beautiful 62-acre Catholic shrine and botanical garden.

These old stone ruins in the Oregon wilderness were once bathrooms and are steeped in legends of murder.

No two pieces are exactly the same at Portland's hippo-themed hardware store.

The magic's in the hole!

This sandstone mansion was the home of two of Oregon's most important pioneers.

This stoic, if derpy, giant stands as a monument to Oregon's statehood and the novelty culture of yesteryear.

10,000 flowered plants bloom in the City of Roses.

This secret gem of a toy store houses a rideable carousel populated with fantasy animals.

These molds for fiberglass statues have formed an eerie, accidental sculpture park.