Barcelona, Spain
Sagrada Família
Construction of Barcelona’s iconic (but controversial) church was finally completed in 2026—a century after the death of its architect.
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Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Florence, Italy
Gipsoteca Bartolini
A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.
Rome, Italy
Saint Victoria's Incorruptible Body
The martyr's wax-enhanced skeletal remains lie preserved in a glass case in the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
Rome, Italy
Meridian Line of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs
Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.
Rome, Italy
The Catacombs of San Sebastian
Jesus' footprints and the first catacombs in the world.
Rome, Italy
Via Appia
2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Lackawanna Coal Mine
Board a mine car and descend the #190 slope 300 feet underground into the Clark Vein of coal.
Washington, D.C.
Capitol Bollards
The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.
Washington, D.C.
Legislative Bell System
An ear-piercing buzzer calls lawmakers to a vote with a series of long and short rings to form coded messages.
Washington, D.C.
Missing Capitol Building Cornerstone
A promising candidate for the lost rock laid by George Washington was unearthed, but the hunt is still on.
Washington, D.C.
D.C. War Memorial
An overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.
Washington, D.C.
Rayburn House Office Building
One critic described it as "middle Mussolini, early Ramses, and late Neiman-Marcus." Another called it an architectural "natural disaster."
Washington, D.C.
Senate Bathtubs
Senators used to relax in the nearly forgotten marble tubs now hidden in the U.S. Capitol Building's basement.
Washington, D.C.
Georgetown Waterfront
The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.
Washington, D.C.
Knife Edge
Architecture lovers won’t stop touching the National Gallery's 19.5 degree marble prow.
Washington, D.C.
Holodomor Memorial
An easily overlooked memorial to a Ukrainian famine-genocide that killed over 4 million people.
Washington, D.C.
Bare-Chested George Washington
Perhaps the most scandalous statue of America's first president.
Washington, D.C.
Theodore Roosevelt Island
The national park was once a plantation estate.
Washington, D.C.
Willard Hotel
Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”
Washington, D.C.
Uncle Beazley the Triceratops
A celebrity from the late Cretaceous period.
Washington, D.C.
District of Columbia Center Point
A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.
Permanently Closed
Washington, D.C.
The Unabomber's Cabin
It was once the base for a series of domestic terror attacks.
Washington, D.C.
Kilroy Was Here
There’s a hidden military meme engraved on the World War II Memorial.
Washington, D.C.
Capitol Building Tunnel System
Members of Congress have traveled between the buildings on Capitol Hill for a century hidden from tourists, press, and storm clouds.
