Claude Monet was baptized in this lavishly ornate Paris church.

For more than a century, Parisians have come for affordable dishes in a grand converted train station.

Fully loaded, Tunisian-style sandwiches are on the menu at this unassuming hole-in-the-wall.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

A grotto-like lodge decorated with gilded mosaics, rocks and a noisy waterfall was the setting for the most sumptuous pleasure house of 1900s Europe.

This off-limits room in the National Library of France is home to a system of pneumatic tubes, once used to bring books to readers.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

A 400-year-old church covered floor to ceiling in ex-voto offerings from the faithful.

This small, ingenious cannon once helped regulate Parisian life.

Executions were once held near this beautiful 18th-century fountain.

Shop at the 200-year-old store where Julia Child stocked up on copper cookware.

With a history of slaughter, feast, and famine, remnants of the pork industry decorate this area--even its church.

Order a boozy baba au rhum at the oldest patisserie in Paris.

This little-known relic crypt holds stolen parts of a Roman Empress.

This triumphal arch celebrating the Sun King's conquest of Lille is a masterpiece of military architecture.

This monumental mural crafted nearly 40 years ago is still in perfect condition.

Tables of secondhand books fill the inner courtyard of this 17th-century stock exchange.

This statue honors the thousands of Allied avians that served and died for France during World War I.

This small commune with an even smaller name appears to have an unlikely amount of dead ancestors.

This secret cemetery where no flag is allowed to fly holds the bodies of American soldiers convicted of heinous crimes during WWII.

A haunting medieval mural of the Danse Macabre graces the walls of this church.

The famous winding walk at Chartres is surrounded in mystery and myth.

The largest crypt ever constructed in France was built in the 11th century on an ancient Druid sacred site.

A bike train runs along a disused railway line through the tranquil French countryside.