This abandoned church in central Lyon is missing its front stairs.

Monsters and miniatures are held in equal esteem at this wondrous museum.

Antique cinematography artifacts fill this museum dedicated to the inventors of the moving picture.

Lyon's "Wall of the Silk Weavers" is one of the largest murals in Europe.

Lyon, France is home to two remarkably preserved Roman theaters, one dating back to 15 BCE.

The first modern cemetery of Lyon is complete with more than 200 chapels and monuments.

This hidden garden boasts amazing views of Lyon.

Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.

For hundreds of years, automatons moving to metallic music have been marking the passage of time.

Lyon's miniature version of the Eiffel Tower was built as a statement in support of French secularism.

A colorful piece of contemporary art cheerfully clashes with Lyon's historical architecture.

This frog-themed restaurant was frequented by Picasso, Saint-Exupéry, and more.

The approximate spot where the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar was put to death.

This Parisian gem is one of the most incredible ethnographic museums in the world.

A counter-culture bookstore like no other hides in plain sight in the streets of Paris.

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

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

The floorboard scrawling of a tragic madman is on public display outside a Paris hospital, much to the dismay of its opponents.

The tradition of open-air secondhand and antiquarian bookselling in Paris dates back to the Renaissance.

The oldest continuously operating mint in the world that has been making coins since the 9th-century.

Beggars were miraculously "cured" of their fake ailments when they returned home to this 17th century Paris slum each night.

This Parisian fountain is a little bit fantasy and a little bit nightclub.

Pitié-Salpêtrière was the dumping grounds for women who received the dreaded diagnosis of "hysterical."

The historic Masonic Lodge in which the first-ever female Mason was initiated.