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.

Poznań is now Poland's fifth largest city. It is sometimes claimed to be the first capital of the kingdom of Poland. Poznań has many historic buildings and sights. The European Football Championship will take place in Poznan 2012.

Photo by: tiseb ; Source: Flickr

Lucie Clayton instructs pupils in the art of correct posture by balancing a glass and book on their heads at her finishing school in Old Cavendish Street, London. (Photo by William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 25th November 1936

A person drags a suitcase as a boy clings to it on a square in front of a railway station ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Qingdao, Shandong province, January 28, 2014. About 3.62 billion trips will be made during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which started from January 16, reported Xinhua News Agency citing a government official. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Rescuers attempt attempt to push stranded whales back into the ocean at Ujong Kareng beach in Aceh province, Indonesia, Monday, November 13, 2017. An official said a small pod of whales was stranded at the beach and attracted hundreds of onlookers who posed for pictures with them. (Photo by AP Photo/Zulkarnaini)

One of the largest paddle steamers afloat in Britain is the H.M.S. Royal Eagle, former peacetime excursion boat which carried passengers on pleasure jaunts from Tower Bridge to Southend, Ramscate and Margate. Commissioned two years ago as a warship of the Royal Navy, the craft has been in action 52 times against enemy aircraft. The Eagle took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk where she was dive-bombed 48 times and brought home nearly 3,000 British troops. Members of the crew cleaning the paddle boxes of H.M.S. Royal Eagle in London on January 18, 1943. (Photo by AP Photo)

Colombia' s Caterine Ibarguen competes in the women' s long jump during the 2018 IAAF Birmingham Diamond League athletics meeting at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on August 18, 2018. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/Action Images via Reuters)

Life in lockdown: Schoolteacher Marzio Toniolo, 35, takes a picture of his two-year-old daughter Bianca painting his toenails as they while away time at home in San Fiorano, one of the original “red zone” towns in northern Italy that has now been extended to the whole country, as his wife, Bianca's mum Chiara Zuddas looks out from their balcony, March 20, 2020. Toniolo has been documenting how his family has dealt with being under quarantine since it began for them in February. (Photo by Marzio Toniolo via Reuters)