A Romanesque sanctuary of calm amid the bustle of downtown Los Angeles.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

One of the largest Marian shrines on the West Coast stands rather unexpectedly in Silicon Valley.

This theme park presents 5,000 years of Shanghai history and includes a "sunken" exhibition hall.

Sited in an Inner Mongolian desert are the remnants of an important trade stop along the Silk Road.

China has many statues of the general and war god, but none are as epic as this.

Rainbow-hued in the summer and crystalline in the winter, this salty lake has inspired battles, temples, and plenty of awe.

Although resembling a grand Buddhist temple, this structure is actually the largest mosque in China.

This film studio and amusement park is considered one of the greatest filming locations in China.

A prestigious learning institute of old Shanghai.

An ancient fortification lives on in this Chinese city.

The most famous location in China was home to whole dynasties worth of imperial rulers.

This vertical pinnacle in China was the inspiration for the floating mountains in the movie “Avatar.”

A 15th-century granary that played the role of futuristic slave quarters in the world of 'Star Wars.'

Buildings from the fictional planet of Tatooine still litter the Tunisian desert.

This nonsensical smiling boat shuttles passengers between two places they could've easily walked between.

Pizza joint known for labor-inducing salad dressing.

A three-story, three-dimensional hobo clown in a tutu welcomes CVS shoppers.

The last orange grove of the San Fernando Valley is owned and protected by CSU Northridge.

Every weekend, the parking lot of this Buddhist temple turns into a Thai street-food paradise.

An increasingly eccentric apartment building, topped with winged beasties.

A botanically themed auditorium blooms within the world’s last operating double-decker theater.

One of Canada's most incredible rare book collections holds hundreds of thousands of gorgeous tomes that the general public can touch.

A book collector's dream, this Toronto bookstore has the world's first "Biblio-Mat," a random book vending machine.