This is what trains will look like after the zombie apocalypse.

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.

This charming cobbled backstreet is the most Instagramable street in Paris, much to the residents' annoyance.

Sip coffee and talk politics at this landmark cafe in Astoria's Little Egypt, a contender for the title of America's first hookah bar.

These small stands sell Malian snacks to worshippers and passersby after Friday prayers in Harlem.

This neighborhood grocery houses a treasure trove of Eastern European delights.

On this island, you suck away your garbage via an elaborate pneumatic tube system.

This block in downtown Brooklyn was a hotbed of antislavery activism along the Underground Railroad.

A retired subway car stands alone in a field in the middle of Queens.

The best place in New York to pick up the controversial, notoriously foul-smelling Asian "king of fruits."

This small and serene place for quiet reflection on Staten Island was built in China based on the gardens of the Ming Dynasty.

This small New York museum examines Chinese history from its origins right up to its arrival in the city.

Neon signs that grace the windows of Bergdorf Goodman's and Tiffany & Co. come from this studio in Brooklyn.

The remnants of two World's Fairs are here, complete with a 12-story globe, a mini-Manhattan, and a UFO-shaped pavilion.

First a horse rendering plant, then a 19th century landfill, this beach is full of glass from thousands upon thousands of broken bottles.

An uber-secure, windowless tower of doom in the center of Manhattan is an NSA spyscraper.

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

Long-abandoned trolley tunnels just a mile away from the White House are turning into an art space.

The world's spiciest ice cream comes from Glasgow.

One of the oldest medical collections in Europe focusing on rare surgical instruments.

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.

This modern museum of Mediterranean culture is surrounded by a surreal concrete honeycomb.

To the famous surrealist artist, liberty required two torches held high.

An architectural oddity of six stories, accessed by graceful ramps.