The ship that got left behind.

This fountain is dedicated to the workers who perished constructing the Fréjus Rail Tunnel.

A 16th-century fountain marks the site of a lost medieval cemetery once filled with mass graves.

Stripes of human ashes cover a back lawn in the most sought-after burial grounds in Paris.

A Parisian boutique devoted to la Sape, the elegant Congolese fashion subculture rooted in European colonization.

A French artist's vague warning hangs over Belleville.

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

Dedicated to the history and culture of smoking, this small museum now includes a vape lounge.

Ordinary art transforms to extraordinary thanks to locals' quirky sense of humor.

This banal Parisian entranceway is not what it seems.

The historic Masonic Lodge in which the first-ever female Mason was initiated.

In this Parisian garden's grotesque former life as a zoo it fed exotic animals to the bourgeois and put humans on exhibit.

The Argonaute submarine was the French navy's pride and joy in the 1950's.

Former hunting lodge of a duke who was an avid collector of impressionist works.

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

This museum in a Paris apartment gives a unique look at the iconic French singer's life.

The oldest and smallest cemetery in Paris is only open to the public twice a year.

A curious collection of locks and keys.

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

An odd museum dedicated to French fakes.

Beggars were miraculously "cured" of their fake ailments when they returned home to this 17th century Paris slum each night.

The remaining relics of the patroness of Paris lie in a chapel under a striking double spiral staircase.

Despite being considered a thoroughly American sport, basketball's oldest surviving playing field is found in the basement of a Paris YMCA.

The spiral staircase hidden inside this giant Parisian column was likely built for Catherine de Medici's astrologer.