Places Laura Andersen Wants to Go

A visionary precursor to the Internet made of index cards.

This memorial museum chronicles the apocalyptic destruction of the First World War.

Explore 400,000 years of humans' "battle against darkness" in this offbeat but thorough lamp museum.

Housing the groundbreaking maps and globes of Gerard Mercator.

The Belgian library displays burned books that were salvaged from the fires of both world wars.

This charming, hidden guild museum holds some 700 years of crossbow history.

This whimsical statue dumps water on its head to symbolize knowledge flowing into his brain. Or maybe booze.

A collection of weird and wonderful art fills a former houseplant nursery.

Each time a baby is born in Ghent, these streetlights flash in silent celebration.

Take a leisurely walk through the park to find the seven giant troll sculptures hidden throughout the park.

A once-magnificent collegiate church is falling into ruin.

Dummies recreate radiological discoveries from history.

A Cold War command center is hidden under an idyllic countryside.

This giant urban staircase was built to keep the city's brave fighting men from getting waylaid in the red light district.

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

This statue dedicated to the story of a Flemish boy and his dog was relatively obscure in Belgium, but a cult sensation in Japan.

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

This narrow Ghent alleyway is an officially sanctioned street art tunnel.

This sprawling Belgian fort was once thought of as impenetrable but now it is simply an abandoned relic.

The highest point in Belgium is a staircase to nowhere.

The site where one of the most famous poems of World War I was composed is preserved to honor the legacy of the work.

Descend into the tunnels to experience the life of a coal miner.

Head underground and take a tour of the city's working sewer system, and see the underground river Senne, which defined Brussels for centuries before being covered in the 19th century.

Only museum in the world devoted to bookbinding and book arts holds a permanent collection representing five centuries.