What happens when you cross a mayor and a painter?

This ominous Albanian fortress houses tanks and downed planes as a reminder of their victories over Western imperialism.

Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers crowd Albania long after the fall of Communism.

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.

A medieval bridge stretches over a sulfur-rich river that leads to year-round natural hot springs.

A naturally beautiful, seemingly bottomless deep blue spring.

A vast Communist-era exhibition space in the Bulgarian capital.

"Holy Wisdom" overlooks the city that became its namesake.

A collection of art from Bulgaria's time as a communist state.

A flamboyant five-story building in Bulgaria resembles a crawling snail.

A Bulgarian monument to Russia's role in World War II is constantly being painted in pop culture protest.

Rows of stone statues are dressed up to mourn children that are lost before birth.

After being lost for decades, this striking mural depicting the atomic bomb covers the wall of a busy Tokyo metro station.

Meet the world's longest tapeworm in a collection that really gets under your skin.

Japanese company creates clone dolls that reside in the "uncanny valley."

Not quite the menace it once was, this monster still has some chops.

A 20-meter (65-foot) robot towers over Tokyo Bay.

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

A taste of the macabre Tokyo's ritzy shopping district.

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

A magical place that lets you play in and explore the world of Studio Ghibli.

A quirky collection flush with information on commode culture from ancient times to modern day.

The largest collection of death masks in Ukraine.

The deepest metro station in the world.