The longest continuous lava tube in the continental U.S. offers 2.5 miles of dark explorations for the adventurous.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

This 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.

A shrine contains nearly 200 statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo, dressed in bibs by parents who have lost a child.

After being lost for decades, this striking mural depicting the atomic bomb covers the wall of a busy Tokyo metro station.

This little replica of Lady Liberty provides a bit of NYC in a Japanese city.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

Browse through roughly 130,000 titles in the world's largest independent video rental store.

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

The middle finger of modernity.

A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.

The anatomical-pathological collection of a man who changed surgery.

This intricately carved and hilariously huge bed was such a famous symbol both Shakespeare and Byron used it in their writing.

This luxury shopping lane has been protected by its own tiny police force for over a century.

This artist's home turned gallery/museum preserves the creator's love of "Eastern" influences.

This massive collection of British military artifacts includes the heartbreaking personal letters of the men in the trenches of WWI.

Eighty million natural history specimens call this gargantuan museum home.

Catacombs turned marketplace.