Places mrowestmiddle Wants to Go

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.

Now an entertainment complex, the Lingotto building was once an avant-garde auto factory with a test track on the roof.

Climb this overlooked gem's spiral staircase and you'll be rewarded with spectacular views of Glasgow.

This enormous spiral sculpture looks strangely out of place on the edge of a housing development.

An architectural oddity of six stories, accessed by graceful ramps.

A long spiraling walkway winds through the woods, and around a copper beech tree at the center.

Built to test magnetically levitated elevators, the tower also boasts Germany's highest visitor platform.

A corkscrew-shaped barn in Ireland.

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

The ancient tomb acts as a calendar that keeps perfect time.

A lavish 16th-century mansion filled with spectacular staircases, fantastic frescoes, and gorgeous gardens.

This eccentrically decorated palace is replete with grottoes, fountains, tunnels, and caves.

Those belting out show tunes in this West Village piano bar might not realize it marks the site where Thomas Paine died in 1809.

A neighborhood park in the city of Cáceres hides what some believe are revolutionary examples of Neanderthal cave art.

This modern French ossuary contains the jumbled bones of 130,000 WWI soldiers.

A library where thousands of books explain how to avoid another Great Recession.

A lovely aquatic park built by a one-armed Civil War veteran who made a fortune from lotuses.

Volcanic rocks ground down into sand make this Spanish beach as black as night.

A chain of 16 wondrous lakes formed as a result of the gradual dissolution of soluble layers of bedrock.

It should come as no surprise that the best view of the Hollywood sign is from Batman's lair.

A herd of 150 bison live on California's Santa Catalina Island and are at the heart of an ongoing debate between environmental protection and economic expansion.

A piece of the iconic wall found an unlikely new home in a Vegas bathroom.

A public urinal so pretty, it was declared a national monument.

The fanciest public restroom in New York City boasts fresh flowers, art, and a classical music soundtrack.