Places lepainperdu Wants to Go

Rare collection of medieval books under lock and key.

The mysterious, fantastical woodland inspiration for "The Lord of the Rings."

A failed piece of Orientalism has become the proud symbol of a community.

An indoor miniature village and labor of love for Laurence Geiringer, a model railroad enthusiast.

A miniature village mimics the surrounding buildings so well it includes itself.

Shelves covered in dozens of coffee bean varieties fill this North End institution.

A gas station and a state sign commemorating the most famous claims of extraterrestrial abduction.

This Argentinian hedge maze is an intricate tribute to a famous surrealist author.

A monumental statue of RCA's mascot now sits atop a historical society roof after a life of moving around.

One man's swirling six-acre monument of stone.

The life of one of FDR's possible mistresses is preserved in her palatial Hudson Valley mansion.

The only intersection in America where the buildings on all four corners were built pre-Revolutionary War.

Every animal in the torah taxidermied and crammed into a Brooklyn townhouse.

An abandoned castle owned and ignored by Masons carries a cursed history.

Europe's largest prehistoric mound – burial site of a legendary king?

The curios of pharmacist and collector Henry Wellcome.

Symbolic attempt to overcome the issues of life.

A hidden garden of stones engraved with scriptures, a Joseph Smith Sphinx, all carved by one man.

The world's largest rotating world.

Tucked away in a corner of a Maine general store there was a museum devoted to an equally beloved and reviled local soft drink.

Museum mostly in name, and only a restaurant depending on the day, this place could only exist in Marfa.

The whole of Maine's history with the salty little fish is packed into this tiny coastal museum.

The largest whale museum in Europe allows visitors to walk among life-size giants.

Eighty million natural history specimens call this gargantuan museum home.