Jeffrey Shiau, 35, a volunteer from the crowd, spits water into the mouth of Sam Kaufman, 27, a performer from the Human Fountains, during a reopening party held as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions are gradually lifted in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 15, 2021. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)

A masked dancer performs as part of “Devi Pyankha” (Devi Dance) to mark the beginning of the Indra Jatra Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal on September 15, 2021. Nepali celebrate the Indra Jatra festival to worship “Indra”, the god of rain and to mark the end of monsoon season. (Photo by Sunil Sharma/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Performers kiss the Olympic Torch as Julien Segui carries the Olympic Torch at Moulin Rouge during the second day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay on July 15, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

People walk through Ginza’s shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, 15 December 2025. Japan’s economic focus is on the upcoming Bank of Japan (BOJ) meeting where the central bank is expected to raise its policy rate to combat inflation. The BOJ signaled a rate hike bar is cleared with the wage momentum still intact. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)

A worker carries a carp freshwater fish at a breeding site in Iraq's central city of Najaf, on June 13, 2021. (Photo by Ali Najafi/AFP Photo)

In this Tuesday, January 22, 2019 photo, the wife of Saghir Khan,Anisa Khan, holds their daughter, Alfisa, at the family's house in Mirzapur. Saghir was beaten by a group of Hindus after being spotted transporting cows. (Photo by Bernat Armangue/AP Photo)

A woman wears a mask while carrying a dog in the street on January 22, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. A new infectious coronavirus known as “2019-nCoV” was discovered in Wuhan as the number of cases rose to over 400 in mainland China. Health officials stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the pneumonia-like disease which medicals experts confirmed can be passed from human to human. The death toll has reached 17 people as the Wuhan government issued regulations today that residents must wear masks in public places. Cases have been reported in other countries including the United States, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. (Photo by Getty Images/China Stringer Network)

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.