laurenvaughns's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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San Francisco, California

San Francisco's Cable Car Museum

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.
San Francisco, California

Palace of Fine Arts

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

Alcatraz Island

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

Elephant and Obelisk

A detailed pachyderm supports Rome's smallest Egyptian obelisk.
Rome, Italy

Keats-Shelley Memorial House

Museum dedicated to literary greats of the Romantic Period is also the home in which Keats met his untimely end.
Rome, Italy

Campo de Fiori

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy

Via Appia

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.
Rome, Italy

The Mouth of Truth

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.
Rome, Italy

Santa Maria della Concezione Crypts

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."
Berlin, Germany

Vestiges of the Berlin Wall

On the Spree bank, discover one of the last reminders of a symbolic wall that divided, and was torn down by the people.
Berlin, Germany

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Thousands of coffin-like pillars make up this controversial Holocaust memorial.
Berlin, Germany

Haus Schwarzenberg Street Art Alley

A narrow passage next to a cafe leads to a courtyard exploding with murals, tags, and paste-ups.
Berlin, Germany

Pergamon Museum

The most visited, and possibly most controversial, museum in Germany.
Barcelona, Spain

Street Performers of Las Ramblas

The iconic boulevard is the perfect place to catch sight of a bicycling skeleton, a levitating Satan, or a chef with his head stuck in a pizza.
Barcelona, Spain

Park Güell

Gaudí's famously flamboyant architectural style is on full display in this sprawling park and garden.
Barcelona, Spain

Casa Batlló

One of Antoni Gaudí's most classic buildings is well-known for its "dragon-back" design.
Barcelona, Spain

Sagrada Família

Construction of Barcelona's iconic (but controversial) church is expected to be completed in 2026—a century after the death of its architect.
Paris, France

Musée de Cluny

Medieval museum built over Roman baths that features famous tapestries of a lady and a unicorn.
Paris, France

Foucault's Pendulum

19th century pendulum and a clock restored by a rogue group of guerilla artists.
Paris, France

Montparnasse Cemetery

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.
Paris, France

Centre Pompidou

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.
Paris, France

Shakespeare and Company

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

Père Lachaise Cemetery

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.
Paris, France

Catacombes de Paris

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