Places meltingknight Wants to Go

The flagship building of an early national restaurant chain is a superb example of terra cotta art.

Winter weather reveals a large Italian marble crucifix drowned beneath Lake Michigan.

In the main dining room, a nine-ton boulder caps the fireplace designed by local architect Earl Young.

Colloquially known as “piss alley,” this narrow street filled with tiny bars and barbecue stands looks like it was pulled straight out of “Blade Runner.”

The 19th-century hacienda house is filled with Aztec sculptures.

The oldest pub in Ireland may also be the oldest surviving bar in the entire world.

Wander among the abandoned ruins of this once-powerful medieval town.

These subterranean models show Mexico City's central square during three different eras.

Gargantuan home of Russian science.

The laboratory where the Soviet secret police invented exotic poisons used to kill dissidents in hideous and (mostly) untraceable ways.

This frozen-in-time summer home outside Moscow provides a look at Russian life in the 1950s.

A dormant lightning machine equal to all the power in Russia.

You'll find rocket launchers, not rollercoasters, at Russia's “military Disneyland.”

This museum is known as the "Land of the Dinosaurs," but its full-scale dino models are just the start.

This Colorado hiking trail provides a small gold mine of abandoned gold mines.

The site of the "Bone Wars" between two rival paleontologists during the dinosaur rush of the 19th century.

The largest Art Nouveau complex in the world is a Barcelona hospital with a 600-year-long history.

The unexpectedly beloved remnants of a controversial thermal power plant.

A majestic mansion designed in Mughalai style, complete with a turquoise onion dome.

Setting this massive marionette aflame rids Santa Fe of doom and gloom for another year.

Despite its ornamental looks, this towering Tuscan-inspired anomaly was a masterpiece in hydraulic engineering.

Climb to the top of this spiritual tower, and you'll be rewarded with spectacular views.

The graffitied ruins stand hidden within the Pennsylvania woods.

The crumbling remnants of this 19th-century quarantine hospital hint at the touristy island's darker past.