The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

They sort through millions of dollars worth of diplomatic gifts on behalf of the government.

When it comes to handsignals (and colonialism) rock always beats scissors.

Decades before the scandal, this staircase on the river was a literal "water gate."

Though strikingly beautiful, Seattle's other railway station is now largely forgotten.

Tiny horses tethered to antique rings are scattered around the city.

Statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy the dog in the park where their adventures "really happened."

The span is crooked and made from two older recycled bridges.

The national park was once a plantation estate.

A derelict bit of infrastructure from the canal that once ran through D.C. is landlocked in the heart of the city.

Look closely and you’ll notice that the color changes a third of the way up the tower.

The sci-fi villain is a little-known inhabitant of the U.S. capital's largest cathedral.

A museum cafe showcases Native American dishes and indigenous ingredients from across the Western Hemisphere.

The most accurate timepiece in the world.

A painfully obvious spy house sits right across the street from the Russian Embassy.

Practice your Dirty Dancing lifts in the manmade lake where Johnny Castle himself did.

This rare triple-jurisdiction drawbridge passes through Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

The compass on its front was a handy tool for 17th-century merchants who needed to know the direction of the wind.

This fairytale castle was built as a show of power but was nearly torn down thanks to its history of torture.

Six ravens are kept captive (but well-fed) at the Tower of London to prevent the fall of the Crown.

The romance of early commercial flight still fills this Art Deco destination.

Meet manatees face-to-face at this zoo for native species.

Welcome to old Florida, where a 1940s mermaid show is still enchanting visitors.

This recently rediscovered Civil War-era submarine was the first to ever sink an enemy ship.