Smoked mummies housed in mountainside caves.

Step back in time and witness the fall of Constantinople.

Over fifty whirling pools left by the glacial age.

For two weeks every June, fireflies in the Smoky Mountains perform an astonishing light show.

Paris' fabled purveyor of exotic taxidermy and natural history curios.

The Sun King's military models, saved from the Louvre.

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

A home made entirely from scrapped, reclaimed and recycled material in Whitman County, Washington.

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.

An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.

Once thought to be the oldest living tree in the world, Methuselah was germinated before the Egyptian pyramids were built.

The smallest country in the world.

Giant Redwood-themed cafeteria operates under the golden rule, "Dine Free Unless Delighted."

Where there's quartz, there must be gold. Thus is the story of the mines of Julian, and the titillating times of the Gold Rush.

During prohibition, corrupt city officials ran drinking dens under the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

The blood-soaked ruins of the castle where the murderous Blood Countess was walled in alive.

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

A lone cannonball remains lodged in the walls of the Hotel de Sens as a sober reminder of a revolution.

"In the Dark" Restaurant in Paris offers dinner in complete darkness.

Walk upon the mementos of the dead in this Parisian courtyard paved with medieval tombstones.

The celebrated eyesore created by starry-eyed sweethearts.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

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