Places MaxC Wants to Go

The iconic Chicago sculpture hides a beautiful and easily overlooked plaque on the backside.

This only museum in the world dedicated solely to mushrooms.

A whimsical menagerie of devils, krampuses, satyrs, and other horned creatures.

A library of only unpublished manuscripts.

Along with used instruments, this pawn shop has pieces of music history on display.

This garden is dedicated to a Portland cartoonist who specialized in dark humor.

An emporium for the weird, creepy, rare, and just plain gross.

Forever immortalized in concrete, this Simpsons etching was crafted by show creator Matt Groening.

A plaque commemorates a Victorian scientist's monumental discovery about waves.

A famed drink seasoned with an amputated toe, now on its tenth digit.

One of Chicago's last seafood smokehouses perfects a dying breed of fishcraft.

A speakeasy takes on Chicago's drinking culture.

Commemorating the 1948 creation of the Jimmy Fund, a Boston-based cancer charity.

A trailblazing sovereign nation tucked in the American state of Wisconsin.

These banned cigarette vending machines now sell little pieces of pocket-sized art.

A trio of hidden hot tubs takes advantage of Iceland's natural geothermal vents.

This piece of peacetime naval wreckage memorializes the tragic sinking of the USS Maine--an event which sparked the Spanish-American war.

This headstone-like marker inscribed with three words has been an utter mystery for over a century.

A real plaque marks the spot where a Faulknerian character committed fictional suicide.

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.

A 19th-century horse lover's bequest led to the construction of this unique fountain in Chicago.

Huge abstract sculptures of the Puerto Rican Flag.

A Japanese temple, old German townhouses, and public chess tables offer a peaceful escape from the bustle of the North Side.

G.V. Black, the Father of Modern Dentistry, keeps an eternal eye on Chicagoan’s teeth from his perch in Lincoln Park.