France's national museum of scientific and industrial instruments.

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.

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.

This 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.

Hundreds of prehistoric stones, arranged in perfect lines in a French field.

Massive puppet-automaton machines created by French artist collective Machines de l’Ile.

This submersible road connecting a French island to the mainland is lined with safety towers for when the tide strands travelers.

Ancient artists in the middle of nowhere.

Road signs in Namibia mark the location of one of the five major circles of latitude.

A desert that rolls right up to the ocean, where it's so dry animals live off the fog.

Unexplained bald patches in the landscape grow and recede over time, as though they are somehow alive.

Bizarre living fossil only grows in a small chunk of the Namib Desert.

This "dead marsh" sits among the largest sand dunes in the world, a forest frozen in time.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

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

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.

Abandoned railway line circling the city of Paris.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

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

The largest collection of handbags in the world, the oldest of which were used to carry Bibles, primarily by men.

A hidden church in a hidden courtyard tells the story of the Miracle of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam's former hotspot for public executions and dissections.