Flamboyant architecture from the turn of 20th century.

The oldest housing complex in Riga is a mini timeline of architectural trends.

A former Latvian headquarters of the brutal KGB secret police is now open as a grim reminder of their atrocities.

A 15-foot-tall statue of the head of the Sopranos family greets passengers at a train station in southeastern Lithuania.

Rub it for a bit of good luck.

Plaques celebrating Lithuanian writers freckle a wall of this picture-perfect path.

While this monument tile is shrouded in mystery it also marks the end of the longest ever human chain.

The Frank Zappa fan club erected this monument to their prog-rock hero to mark a new era of post-Soviet Lithuania.

Travelers who fall victim to this mermaid's charms are destined to stay in Užupis forever.

This micro-nation may be some sort of prank, but its constitution sure seems official.

Legend has it that Napoleon Bonaparte fell in love with this Gothic church.

A 300-kilogram egg sculpture that embodied a neighborhood revival.

Dedicated to the outnumbered Finnish forces who pushed back Soviet forces during the conflict.

This ten-ton fruit sculpture celebrates the Finland homeland.

These enormous, stern-faced statues greet visitors with lanterns, and sometimes costumes.

This insurance company building reminds customers that witches, bears, and gnomes are out there, best be insured.

The tiny, studious rodents greet visitors to the National Archives of Finland.

Architecturally stunning library serves as the hub of Finnish scholarly life and culture.

A subterranean house of worship carved right out of the bedrock.

Walk on a glass floor suspended over ancient mummified remains.

A beautiful museum filled with thousands of chairs.

The fighters and conspirators that won independence for Paraguay held secret meetings at this historic house.

One of the oldest colonial buildings still standing in South America.

You have to know where to look in this rather ordinary-looking square to find hints of its past as a dissidents' cemetery.