A charming 17th-century alley is lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops.

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

Go deep down into the earth to experience the world of Welsh coal miners.

This hidden 13th-century tavern room has a few Shakespearean connections.

This Norman castle was once the site of a Victorian-era prison, and now exists as a luxury hotel.

The shop where the girl who inspired the beloved character once bought sweets is now a book-themed commercial curiosity.

A 26-foot shark sculpture—a statement about bombs—set off a municipal battle royale.

Used as an example in one of the first dictionary entries for "museum" in 1706.

Home to the most complete dodo remains known - one head, and one foot.

Ancient Egyptian wigs, South American feather headdresses, a bounty of anthropological artifacts in Oxford.

This display showcases the culinary equivalent of steel-toe boots during World War I.

This spooky statue sits outside a famous Prague theater.

A bust of Franz Kafka spins in pieces, reflecting the writer's inner torment.

A series of playful yellow penguins share a serious message about the environment.

This walkway is so narrow it needs its own light to stop pedestrian traffic jams.

This automated sculpture of two men peeing will spell out text messages with their micturition.

Macabre astrological automaton clock dating to the late 1400s.

A Jenga-style cylindrical tower of books that appears to go on forever.

The history of occult science is turned into a creepshow at this lurid Prague tourist attraction.

This tipsy office building in downtown Prague was originally called “Fred and Ginger.”

A local museum honors the overlooked discoveries of Mary Anning, one of the first professional fossil hunters.

In 1943 the British military took control of this village, telling residents they had to leave temporarily. The villagers were never allowed to return.

A museum in England’s Lake District dedicated to the trusty pencil wants you to know the story of their World War II spy pencils.

The highest peak in all of England is plagued by dangerously fickle climate shifts.