A street artist, calling on people to visit an amusement park, walks past the military-themed street exhibition “Together to Victory” in Saint Petersburg on February 3, 2025. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)

Tanzania, 1964. A touching moment between primatologist and National Geographic grantee Jane Goodall and young chimpanzee Flint at Tanzania's Gombe Stream Reserve. (Photo by Hugo van Lawick via National Geographic)

Storm clouds blanket the sky over Great American Ball Park as Starlin Castro #13 of the Chicago Cubs fields a ground ball in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds as on July 7, 2014 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

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.

Nguyen Thi Vui paddles her boat in the flooded streets of Hoi An, Vietnam, Monday, November 6, 2017. A powerful typhoon that rocked Vietnam has killed dozens of people and caused extensive damage to the country's south-central region ahead of the APEC summit that will draw leaders from around the world, the government said Monday. (Photo by Hau Dinh/AP Photo)

A Sotheby's employee poses with a “Return of the Jedi” promotional C-3PO Helmet 1983, estimated at £15,000-£25,000 created by George Lucas' visual effects company during a photocall at Sotheby's in London, Britain on December 6, 2019. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

A British couple drink hot chocolate at Chillout cafe in Dubai May 12, 2013. Chillout, owned by UAE's Sharaf Group, is the first ice lounge in the Middle East, with temperatures set at –6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Farenheit). The cafe, with its illuminated interiors, curtains, paintings and seating arrangements, is all made of carved ice and frozen sculptures. (Photo by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)

King Abdullah of Jordan and Queen Rania who holds Princess Salma in her arms, pose for a portrait November 20, 2000 in Amman, Jordan