Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

Where Venice's gondolas go for a tune-up.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.

Rome’s legendary peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

Ancient snack bar of the Roman Empire re-opened.

Erotic art covers the walls of the largest ancient pleasure palace.

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

The oldest of Venice's plague quarantine stations, designed to keep the medieval city safe from disease.

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

A French artist's vague warning hangs over Belleville.

A series of abstract, silly sculptures represent the works of a great modern classical composer.

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

Two awe-inspiring globes from the reign of the Sun King hang from the ceiling of France's national library.

Remains of Roman amphitheater hidden in a sleepy quarter of Paris.

This surreal statue brings a famous French novel about a supernatural cad to arresting life.

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.

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

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

Paris' linguistic guide to the international language of, yes, love.

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

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.