Places Laura Andersen Wants to Go

A marble Lucifer hides behind the pulpit of this Gothic cathedral.

This knobby, drooping New Orleans oak is a favorite place both for climbing and for meeting giraffes.

The stone labyrinth in this New Orleans city park was laid to symbolize healing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

A 19th-century shrine covered with prosthetic body parts as votive offerings.

Despite the ever pressing encroachment of urban sprawl this grand New Orleans manse still stands.

A house of courtship where the Jazz Age's most storied lovers got their start.

This historic "City of the Dead" lies prominently in the center of New Orleans' famous Garden District.

A typical "Old South" manor, once owned by author Anne Rice, served as the setting for several of her witchcraft sagas.

This relatively recently abandoned brewery is a tragic reminder of the continuing effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Made of giant chains and hung with shackles, this iron cross honors those unknowns who perished under American slavery.

This symbolic piece of New Orleans architecture is also home to a few ghastly stories.

If New Orleans is the birthplace of the "cocktail," why does their own museum of cocktail memorabilia beg to differ?

This "second" cemetery represents New Orleans' attempt to keep cholera at bay.

According to one local tradition, the entrance to the Voodoo underworld can be found in New Orleans through seven gates scattered throughout the city's French Quarter.

The giant scales in this museum can still tell if someone is one of the devil's brides just by weight.

The oldest surviving wood-frame building in North America is still in the family.

This Tuscan lake hides a 13th century town that is still visible when the water recedes.

An expansive and intricately restored mansion remains from over a century ago--and so do its ghosts.

A monument in Washington D.C. marks the spot from which all other roads were supposed to stem.

The remains of a failed attempt at medieval nerdery are hidden deep in the woods of Virginia.

This Wall Street bar was once a hub of revolutionary activity where Washington famously bid farewell to his troops.

This cemetery has graves dating back to the 17th century, including the city's oldest carved tombstone and an ominous cryptogram.

A sharply wedged sundial marks the point at which each day in the United States begins.

The world's brightest bioluminescent bay.