Places SamS Wants to Go

It’s not hard to see why the historic Peabody Conservatory of Music’s library has been described as a “cathedral of books.”

This giant statue is the product of a mixture of corruption, Stalinist architecture, and North Korean manpower.

A geological bull's-eye visible from outer space.

Five ancient libraries, little changed for centuries, preserve a medieval archive of Quranic lore and civic documents

Large collection from the 3rd millennium BCE.

A 2,000-year-old computer demonstrates remarkable engineering and astronomical precision.

The maritime museum that boasts the largest nautical library in the western hemisphere.

A slice of central Asia in the middle of Berlin.

The most visited, and possibly most controversial, museum in Germany.

Architecturally stunning library serves as the hub of Finnish scholarly life and culture.

A plaque immortalizes the spot where the early American spy said his famous last words: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Named the fifth most beautiful building in America in 1885, this former courthouse boasts the best view in the Village.

The gorgeous library at Trinity College is home to remarkable treasures of Irish identity.

The beams of the New College, Oxford dining hall come with an amazing story.

One of Europe's oldest libraries.

A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past.

As can be expected from a centuries-old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

High plateaus and beautiful waterfalls frame this ecologically significant nature preserve.

Site full of incredible prehistoric paintings and archeological findings.

A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.

An extraordinary collection of scientific instruments - and Einstein's chalkboard - inside the world's oldest purpose built museum building.

An Oxford museum where visitors can have tea with the Mad Hatter and climb through the wardrobe to a fantasy land.

A nostalgic bibliographic gem.

A wondrous old library overlooking the nation's capital.