The very center of Paris is surrounded by a bevy of strange good luck rituals.

Museum on French naval history, with magnificent figureheads, a historic diving suit, and a boat used by Napoleon.

France's national museum of scientific and industrial instruments.

Natural history museum celebrating biodiversity with a parade of taxidermy animals.

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.

Known as the "Dodo Manège," this carousel features a herd of animals that have disappeared—or may be gone soon.

This life-size replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame is also a tribute to Princess Diana by default.

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.

This statue was given to France by the United States to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution.

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

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

Noirish green neon marks the location of one of the oldest private detective agencies in France.

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

The oldest stone house in Paris was built by its most famous alchemist.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

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

A pedestrian island in the middle of world-famous Times Square emits a strange (and purposeful) humming noise.

This massive fiberglass Gulliver turns every visitor into a Lilliputian.

Two stunning 17th-century libraries and a cabinet of curiosities.

Hundreds of Buddhas in a re-discovered Indonesian temple.

A single tree's 2,800 aerial roots give the appearance of a complete forest.