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

A mechanized clock where a man fights off a dragon, crab, and rooster.

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

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the century.

A counter-culture bookstore like no other hides in plain sight in the streets of Paris.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

Paris' linguistic guide to the international language of, yes, love.

One of the oldest medical collections in Europe focusing on rare surgical instruments.

The very center of Paris is surrounded by a bevy of strange good luck rituals.

A museum of carnival attractions where you are invited to ride the rides.

This charming cobbled backstreet is the most Instagramable street in Paris, much to the residents' annoyance.

A horde of stray cats rule in this secluded Parisian cemetery under a bridge.

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

The oldest stone house in Paris was built by its most famous alchemist.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

Notorious artist squat renovated into legal studios.

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

Although damaged beyond recognition, this stone god is still said to bring good luck to those who tap on him with a pebble.

If Hello Kitty were Mickey Mouse, this would be Disneyland.

Cabaret where the show girls are all androids, and the patrons couldn't be more pleased.

The site where the famous city gate once stood, now in the middle of a playground.

More than 300 years old, Kyoto's historic "teahouse" still operates as an invitation-only geisha club.

A train ride to the middle of nowhere gives its passengers some of the most iconic views of Japan's seasons.