The official Presidential Residence of Los Pinos became an emblem of Mexico's opulence and presidential corruption.

Many people don't realize there’s a lot going on in—and below—the world’s tallest triumphal arch.

The only castle in North America to ever house European sovereigns.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

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

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.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

The U.S. Navy's last diesel-electric submarine rests half-submerged in the middle of Portland.

These locks on North America’s oldest canal are named after a porcine rock formation.

Louise Bourgeois' 30-foot-tall steel spider sculpture.

A massive Montreal stadium that has seen nothing but trouble since its inception.

Futuristic apartment blocks are the backdrop for Montreal surfers hangin' ten on the Habitat '67 standing wave.

City law dictates that this mountaintop cathedral containing the heart of a saint is to remain the tallest building in town.

Small ship votives hang from the vaulted ceiling of this port-side church with a Latin inscription on the wall.

A grand Gothic Revival basilica with stained glass depictions of Montreal's religious history has only one soul resting in its crypt.

This 1967 experiment in modular architecture was designed to be a new model for urban living.

This lovely, if imposing, piece of Canadian gothic is possibly the most photographed hotel in the world.

This steep cable railway has been hoisting passengers in the heart of Québec City for over a century.

A contemporary fresco movement illustrates the region's rich history.