Remains of the artificial harbours invented for the Allied invasion of Normandy can still be seen at sea.

Three connected pink triangles memorialize persecuted gays and lesbians throughout history.

The video game-themed street art first popped up in the French city.

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

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.

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

A Cold War command center is hidden under an idyllic countryside.

Rare wooden escalators lead deep down into an otherwise staggeringly monotonous tiled tunnel.

This former steel and coal plant is now a neon-lit industrial fantasia.

This rusting remnant of the local herring industry is being given a second life.

This volcanic cave lake is essentially hard proof that Iceland is the most magical place on Earth.

This five-foot-tall bronze bird is a memorial to a species that was hunted out of existence.

The oldest bookstore in Iceland.

The final resting place of the controversial chess champion.

Instead of solid circles, the stoplights in this northern Icelandic town have glowing red hearts.

Twisted girders are all that remain of an Icelandic bridge that was wiped out by a combination of volcanic heat and glacial floods.

The oldest steel ship in Iceland has been beached for years and is now a rusting ruin.

A sulfuric martian landscape that looks far better than it smells.

Three columns of volcanic rock shoot out of the ocean.

The oldest (maybe) swimming pool in Iceland is a stunning oasis built into the side of a lush hill.

These ominous lava formations were said to be an entrance to the netherworld so of course they inspired a famous metal band.

If a glacial river suddenly diving into a sheer chasm via a dramatic, multi-stage waterfall isn't peak Iceland, it's certainly close.

This valley of hot springs and boiling mud pots is home to the record-holding "Geysir," which originated the English word.

The most powerful waterfall in all of Europe.