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

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

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

The ruins of New Zealand's largest classical-style church.

Inside this faux cave, visitors can learn how some of their favorite fantasy characters were created.

Artist James Turrell's ode to dawn and dusk on the campus of Rice University.

255 feet of suds, scrubbers, and blow dryers.

A private collection of massive steel monsters guarding a Texas pipe works.

A tribute to the pop culture icon overlooks this Washington D.C. intersection.

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

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

A much-maligned monument to teetotalism.

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”

Washington's iconic carousel has a nice piece of Civil Rights history.

The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.

A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.

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

Twisted girders are all that remain of an Icelandic bridge that was wiped out by a combination of volcanic heat and glacial floods.

The picturesque birthplace of Icelandic democracy is drenched in the blood of its brutal past.

This stunning concert hall has become a symbol of Iceland's national recovery.

This black church sits alone among a field of lava rock.

A formerly glacier-tipped volcano that inspired none other than Jules Verne.

Three columns of volcanic rock shoot out of the ocean.

This natural Icelandic fissure allows divers to swim right between two volatile tectonic plates.