The 10,000 Torii shrine.

Serving you alcohol with a side of insanity. Also, costumes!

This subterranean spot might be the epitome of Japan's baroque, retro coffee houses.

A charming, homemade vending machine dispenses burgers and sandwiches at this hole-in-the-wall bakery.

This “peasant café” in the middle of Tokyo re-creates the atmosphere of the Japanese countryside.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Sitting in the basement of a castle, the largest wine barrel in the world is bigger than most apartments.

This historic funicular system combines the old with the new while offering delightful views over the surrounding valley.

This tree was grafted from the actual tree that led Isaac Newton to ponder the theory of gravity.

Students can borrow artwork from this gallery to display in their own residences.

Named after a lodging site that existed nearby, a bridge has existed at this location since 1455.

One of several Lilliputian portals that are ready to transport passengers to other dimensions, if they can find them.

A treasure trove of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific instruments at Cambridge University.

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

A new sculpture calls attention to climate change in the centuries-old city it threatens.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.

This huge repository of local history housed in an old J.C.Penney's is home to the largest model train set in Southeast Texas.

This memorial marks the devastating day that Texas City was destroyed in a daisy chain of exploding ships.

A taste of Middle Earth, in the middle of the Bayou City.

At the "Garage Mahal" in Houston, car culture is about more than just driving.

An oddities shop packed with twisted treasures inspired by Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe.

An abandoned relic of the city's failed experiment with below ground transit.

Mussolini gave Cincinnati a bronze statue of Romulus and Remus suckling at a wolf's teats.