Monuments don't get much more metal than these three giant viking swords planted in a Nordic hill.

Norway's oldest cathedral still in use.

A reconstructed farm shows what life was like in Norway 1,500 years ago.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

The remains of a 12th-century chapter house in Golden Gate Park.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A glimpse into the lives of the the Miwok and Paiute people in Yosemite National Park.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

These 5,000-year-old cave paintings provide a glimpse into prehistoric Finnish life.

This intricately spiralling forest was created as a monumental work of art.

This honeycomb-textured tafone looks like a petrified troll head.

This unassuming chapel in Portugal plays host to a ghoulish collection of bones.

A cluster of historic bathhouses built on the famed hot springs that gave the Georgian capital its name.

This architecturally eclectic fortress witnessed centuries of bloody turmoil, including the massacre of its ruling clan.

A small but hugely whimsical theater where marionettes play out the "The Battle of Stalingrad."

These Egyptian statues have survived for 3,400 years and were an acoustic wonder of the ancient world.

Lyon's "Wall of the Silk Weavers" is one of the largest murals in Europe.

For over 300 years this little carving has been the city’s good luck charm.

Lyon, France is home to two remarkably preserved Roman theaters, one dating back to 15 BCE.

For hundreds of years, automatons moving to metallic music have been marking the passage of time.

Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.