A little bit Wonkatania, a little bit pink elephant.

A taste of Middle Earth, in the middle of the Bayou City.

The peaceful space is adorned by paintings by the famed abstract artist Mark Rothko.

A 90-year-old underground water reservoir offers a more industrial kind of tranquility.

Once seen as a bit of an eyesore, this sculpture has become a staple of downtown Houston.

The second-highest train station in Europe.

One hundred years ago this small house in downtown Zürich became the birthplace of the Dada movement.

One of a series of no-purpose kinetic artworks by Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely.

This memorial commemorating fallen Swiss Guards of the French Revolution has been called the saddest stone in the world.

This historic covered bridge contains a series of macabre paintings that communicate one thing: everyone dies.

Lucerne's central prison was converted into a tourist hotel with a bare minimum of changes.

Once a 19th-century brasserie, this McDonald's exterior celebrates Alsatian design and the "King of Beer."

The floorboard scrawling of a tragic madman is on public display outside a Paris hospital, much to the dismay of its opponents.

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

This life-size replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame is also a tribute to Princess Diana by default.

The Sun King's military models, saved from the Louvre.

Twelve grave-faced marble angels guard the emperor's tomb at Les Invalides.

This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

A simple plaque on the facade is the only reminder that the treaty ending the American Revolution was signed inside.

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

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

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