Ordinary art transforms to extraordinary thanks to locals' quirky sense of humor.

This innocuous-seeming building is actually the remnant of a major wartime brothel.

Got apples?

The recovered bones of martyrs slaughtered during The Terror are on display in this church crypt.

Hidden away in a modern library are the remains of one of the 18th century's most celebrated wunderkammers.

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

How did a French journalist’s grave become the sexiest statue in the cemetery?

France's national museum of scientific and industrial instruments.

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

A surrealist timepiece by the artist of melting clocks.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.

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

Climb inside an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times its normal size.

Cozy basement bar sports an inventory of over 2,000 beers.

This impressive collection of rare books on ancient mysticism inspired author Dan Brown.

This gorgeous reading room houses the oldest and largest art history library in the Netherlands.

This unusual elevator doesn’t stop or slow down.

Europe's official "zero-level," the equator of elevation.

This large copper bolt represents the benchmark for measuring sea levels in most of Europe.

Debatably clever, or just plain honest hotel advertised as "The Worst Hotel in the World."

Amsterdam's former hotspot for public executions and dissections.

This basement museum explores the art and artistry of fascism.

This historic Amsterdam bar used to accept sailor's monkeys as payment.