A tourist crosses flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy on November 11, 2012. Flooding is common this time of year and Sunday's level that reached a peak of 58.66 inches was below the 63 inches recorded four years ago in the worst flooding in decades. (Photo by Luigi Costantini/Associated Press)

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 three-day-old Bengal tiger calf is cared for after being fed at the National Zoo in Masaya on August 30, 2021. A female Bengal tiger calf was born in the National Zoo of Nicaragua, the fourth of this species in risk of extinction born in captivity in the country, and is under special care due to a limited breastfeeding capacity of the mother. (Photo by Inti Ocon/AFP Photo)

An Indian sadhu (Hindu holy man) sits on the banks of Sangam – the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers – on the auspicious bathing day of 'Maghi Purnima' during the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad on February 19, 2019. Millions of Hindu pilgrims took the plunge in holy rivers on the most auspicious bathing days of the Kumbh Mela festival, led by naked, ash-smeared holy men and accompanied by chants from Hindu holy texts. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A horse rears in the crowd during the traditional San Juan (Saint John) festival in the town of Ciutadella, on the Balearic Island of Minorca, on the eve of Saint John's day on June 23, 2022. (Photo by Jaime Reina/AFP Photo)

A woman wearing a “Free Luigi” T-shirt walks at the Manhattan Supreme Court on the day Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, is to appear on New York State murder and terrorism charges, in New York City, U.S., on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

A woman wearing a face mask and a child sit between rail tracks, during the imposition of large-scale social restrictions by the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 12, 2020. (Photo by Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

Sеx worker Moira Mona wears a mask at her studio where she creates videos near Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 30, 2020. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)