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

A Gothic cathedral created from volcanic rocks.

Historic medieval fortified city in southwest France.

The mental institution where Van Gogh created some of his most famous work now allows guests to walk in the artist's footsteps.

This salt marsh in Southern France is as pink as the flamingos that inhabit it.

Two awe-inspiring globes from the reign of the Sun King hang from the ceiling of France's national library.

This natural French spring has been turned into a magical grotto by Roman and medieval constructions.

At Monet's beloved home you can still see the Japanese bridge, waterlilies, and weeping willows that were the subjects of some of his most iconic paintings.

An icy lake tucked among jaw-dropping alpine panoramas.

One of the last umbrella repair shops in Paris upholds the nostalgic art of umbrella making.

A 14th century bridge built as a fortress, where the devil lurks on one of its towers.

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

Ancient paintings known as the "Sistine Chapel of Cave Art."

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.

The curious underground history of keeping Paris clean.

One of the greatest maze designer’s greatest mazes.

An overlooked marble is the only surviving in-place 18th century example of the measurement that changed how we define distance.

The first green space constructed on an elevated viaduct.

Stroll through retro Paris while shopping for old postcards and discarded doll heads.

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

Paris' fabled purveyor of exotic taxidermy and natural history curios.

The history of radiation is on safe display at the foot of a radiation science laboratory.

Known as the "Dodo Manège," this carousel features a herd of animals that have disappeared—or may be gone soon.

Egyptian Revival movie palace abandoned for decades and restored in 2013.