Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

A humanoid robot named Kansei, meaning “sensibility” in Japanese, makes a facial expression depicting “happiness”, next to the word “Love” during a demonstration at a laboratory of Meiji University's Robot and Science Institute in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo in this June 4, 2007 file photo. Three-fourths of robot installations over the next decade are expected to be concentrated in four areas: transportation equipment, including the automotive sector; computer and electronic products; electrical equipment and machinery. Labor costs have climbed in countries such as China that have been popular for outsourcing production, while technological advances for robots allow them to be more flexible and perform more tasks. (Photo by Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

An original 1850 puntabout rugby football is displayed at Rugby School in central England, March 18, 2015. Rugby School is known as the spiritual home of rugby. According to a popular version of the game's origins, it was on the school's playing field that in 1823, in a game that could loosely be described as football but was more like a brawl, a pupil called William Webb Ellis caught the ball and, instead of kicking towards the goal, sprinted with it – breaking the code and laying the way for modern-day rugby. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

A blooming cherry tree is seen along the Tidal Basin on Sunday March 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. As Covid-19 precautions begin to lift around the country large crowds are able to once again descend upon the region for the blossoming cherry trees. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Stumpy the mascot dances near “Stumpy” the cherry tree at the tidal basin in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The weakened tree is experiencing its last peak bloom before being removed for a renovation project that will rebuild seawalls around Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park. (Photo by Nathan Ellgren/AP Photo)

British sculptor Laurence Edwards' striking bronze figures, Walking Men, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, UK on April 9, 2024. The 8ft tall figures are seen to be anti-heroic and seem to have come from the earth itself. Branches, leaves and clods of clay are woven through them, making it unclear where human and ground begin and end. (Photo by Pete Seaward/South West News Service)

A Hindu devotee moves toward the river Brahmaputra in a prostrate manner to perform rituals during Chhath Puja festival in Guwahati, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, India, Thursday, November 7, 2024. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

British actress Millie Bobby Brown in the last decade of February 2025 shows off a very 90s denim look. (Photo by miliebobbybrown/Instagram)