Giant sand sculptures of famous people and places are on display near the Tottori sand dunes.

A disconnected rotary phone for "calling" lost loved ones offered a unique way of dealing with grief in disaster-stricken Japan.

A collection of Lenin busts and other Soviet Era statues sit idly behind the Semipalatinsk Hotel.

This cuddly rodent has a place of honor at a Russian institute for genetic research.

Every January 6, young men dive into Spring Bayou in search of a cross and a year's worth of maritime blessings.

A community of collapsing homes more than a mile out from the Florida coast.

A gleaming white tower in ornate Indian style soars above the low-slung bungalows of north Tampa.

This home is decked out like a psychedelic explosion of colors and bowling balls.

A creative deviation in this post office's design was once a source of controversy.

This Florida museum dedicated to western artwork is entered through an artificial canyon with imported sandstone.

You’ll feel like you’ve gone through the looking glass at this contemporary art museum filled with glass sculptures of every size, shape, and color.

Florida might be at its most surreal in this museum devoted to the famed Spanish artist.

A luxuriant botanical garden below sea level.

The site of a gold-digging conquistador's bloody landing in the Americas.

This former factory has been transformed into a technicolor wonderland, where dozens of local artists have collaborated to create a real choose-your-own-adventure experience.

Possibly the most beautiful carillon in the world, set atop Iron Mountain in Florida.

A circus legend leaves an unexpected endowment.

Visitors flock to see this church tower's unintended feature: It happens to resemble a giant chicken from multiple points of view.

The world's largest squirrel statue clutches a pecan bigger than your head.

A Milwaukee museum provides an unsparing and ultimately empowering look at the Black American experience.

This North Carolina store preserves a historic moment in America's movement for racial equality.

Bronze footprints mark the path where a civil rights leader tried to march in peaceful protest before being knocked unconscious.

When Motown musicians came to Nashville in the 1960s they stayed at this historic record-pressing company because hotels wouldn't host them.

More than 300,000 historical artifacts from the famous music venue, from Duke Ellington's handwritten score to The Beatles' booking slip.