TP's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Paris, France

Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France)

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

Museum of Vampires

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.
Paris, France

Catacombes de Paris

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

Cat Island

On Japan's Tashirojima Island, cats are king.
Uppsala, Sweden

Pelle Svanslös Crosswalk

Uppsala's adorable feline sign celebrates a popular children's book set in the Swedish city.
Amsterdam, Netherlands

De Poezenboot (The Cat Boat)

A floating cat sanctuary on an Amsterdam canal.
St. Augustine, Florida

Sacred Cat Rug

Possibly the world's oldest rug, this Egyptian relic is woven entirely from ancient cat hair and once carried a mummified human foot.
Halle (Saale), Germany

Nebra Sky Disc

The 3,600-year-old archeological sensation is considered to be the oldest representation of the cosmos.
Mexico City, Mexico

La Posada del Sol

Meant to be one of the most extravagant hotels in the world, now an eerie, abandoned architectural gem in Mexico City.
Mexico City, Mexico

Mercado de Sonora

Superstitious? Discover the witchy side of Mexico through its largest esoteric market.
Mexico City, Mexico

Cafebrería El Péndulo

Part bookstore, part café, and part forest.
Mexico City, Mexico

Biblioteca Vasconcelos

A jaw-dropping "megalibrary" that turns book-browsing into a geometric adventure.
Saty, Kazakhstan

Kaindy Lake

Submerged trees jut ghost-like out of an idyllic turquoise mountain lake.
Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Baikonur Cosmodrome

World's oldest and largest space launch facility, once a secret missile testing site.
Aralsk, Kazakhstan

Aral Sea

Rusting ships sit in a desert where a sea used to be.
Georgia

Vardzia Cave Monastery

Underground monastery and fortress.
Paphos, Cyprus

The Mosaics of Paphos

The ancient mosaics here are considered among the finest in the world, and serve as a stunning record of Greco-Roman daily life.
Oxford, England

Oxford Museum of the History of Science

An extraordinary collection of scientific instruments - and Einstein's chalkboard - inside the world's oldest purpose built museum building.
Oxford, England

The Story Museum

An Oxford museum where visitors can have tea with the Mad Hatter and climb through the wardrobe to a fantasy land.
Vancouver, Washington

The Brautigan Library

A library of only unpublished manuscripts.
Yangzhou Shi, China

Yangzhou Zhongshuge

Mirrored floors and arched shelves create the illusion of an infinite tunnel of books.
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Rasputin Museum at Yusupov Palace

Palace where the nearly un-killable Rasputin was murdered.
Câmpina, Romania

Iulia Hasdeu Castle

This eccentric folly house was designed by Romanian thinker Bogdan-Petriceicu Hasdeu, with a helping hand from his deceased daughter's spirit.
Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Joyxee Island

One man's fulfilled dream of living on an artificial island made of recycled plastic bottles.