A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

A masterpiece in Golden Gate Park by virtue of the artist’s debt.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

The actual model from the original "Star Trek" series is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

In paradise, feral pigs have claimed an island all to themselves.

Moscow's imposing monument to the Space Age.

A masterpiece of LGBT art has been restored in what may now be the most valuable restroom in America.

A monument celebrating the idea of reaching inaccessible places.

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.

World's first "penitentiary," meant to be humane, drove men insane.

At Washington's Dulles Airport is a satellite museum (no pun intended) with three quarters of a million square feet of aircraft history.

Inspired by a foil-wrapped potato, (seriously) the Markel Building has been deemed one of the 10 ugliest buildings in the world.

A convincing little bit of ancient Egypt smack dab in Richmond, Virginia.

An organ located deep within a cave, whose "pipes" are the geological features of the cave itself.

America's most famous museum of medical oddities is home to the remains of Albert Einstein's brain.

This 29-ton granite ball spins around at the slightest touch thanks to a scientific phenomenon.

The iconic statue was moved to a new spot overlooking the James river after several years as a mascot for the local baseball team.

A small Richmond island dotted with the remnants of hundreds of years of history.

The final resting place of two (or three) presidents, one vampire, and 18,000 Confederate soldiers.