A WZ-10 attack helicopter performs during Airshow China 2022 at Zhuhai Air Show Center on November 9, 2022 in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province of China. The 14th Airshow China will be held from Nov. 8 to 13. (Photo by Qian Baihua/VCG via Getty Images)

A tourist takes photos in an open-air studio with a view of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

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 boat, center, is surrounded by Japan Cost Guard's patrol boats after some activists descended from the boat on Uotsuri Island, one of the islands of Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, in East China Sea Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Regional tensions flared on the emotional anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender as activists from China and South Korea used Wednesday's occasion to press rival territorial claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese authorities. The 14 people had traveled by boat from Hong Kong to the disputed islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. (Photo by Yomiuri Shimbun/Masataka Morita/AP Photo)

A tree stands in a lake in Usingen near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, the World Water Day. World Water Day was established in 1992 by the United Nations to spread awareness about the water condition all over the world. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Women soldiers dance during a parade marking the 78th anniversary of the Indonesian Armed Forces in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, October 5, 2023. (Photo by Tatan Syuflana/AP Photo)

A woman poses with a retro VAZ 2101 car during the annual BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 22, 2024. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Madison Chock, top, and Evan Bates, bottom, perform during the ice dance rhythm dance competition at the U.S. figure skating championships Friday, January 24, 2025, in Wichita, Kan. (Photo by Travis Heying/AP Photo)