Places Mathias Van de Velde Wants to Go

Moss and stone turn this waterfall into an otherworldly liquid veil.

This fairy-tale castle would make Dracula (who is said to have been imprisoned there) jealous.

This emotive sculpture was originally created for the 1878 World's Fair.

One of Jeff Koons’s largest sculptures and his first commemorative work.

A beautiful Victorian statue shows France's enduring love of the rhinoceros.

In this Parisian garden's grotesque former life as a zoo it fed exotic animals to the bourgeois and put humans on exhibit.

The recovered bones of martyrs slaughtered during The Terror are on display in this church crypt.

The narrowest street in Paris.

This frog-themed restaurant was frequented by Picasso, Saint-Exupéry, and more.

An off-the-beaten-path boutique stuffed with an eclectic collection of upcycled goods.

Paris' fabled purveyor of exotic taxidermy and natural history curios.

This Parisian fountain is a little bit fantasy and a little bit nightclub.

Known as the "Dodo Manège," this carousel features a herd of animals that have disappeared—or may be gone soon.

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.

Exquisite wall sculptures carved in secret by an early quarryman in an obscure corner of the Paris Catacombs.

A mechanized clock where a man fights off a dragon, crab, and rooster.

Egyptian Revival movie palace abandoned for decades and restored in 2013.

This museum houses an imposing skeleton army comprised of creatures great and small.

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

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the 20th century.

A museum of carnival attractions where you are invited to ride the rides.

A horde of stray cats rule in this secluded Parisian cemetery under a bridge.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.