South Sudanese traditional dancers prepare to welcome Pope Francis during his visit in Juba, South Sudan on February 3, 2023. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Firefighters work to put out flames during a wildfire in Sokcho, South Korea, April 5, 2019. South Korea grappled with the massive blaze that roared through forests and cities along the eastern coast, declaring a national emergency and mobilizing all available resources to bring the inferno under control. (Photo by Yonhap via Reuters)

A man raises his fist as a group of Black Lives Matter marchers approached Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza ast the beginning of a Caribbean-led rally, Sunday, June 14, 2020, in New York. Protests have grown since the May 25th death of George Floyd, a black man who died inn police custody in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. (Photo by Kathy Willens/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.

Breitling Wingwalker Freya Paterson, from Liverpool, UK, flies above Kuwait City's iconic Water Towers with pilots David Barrell and Martyn Carrington, on March 6, 2014. The team loop and roll up to 160 mph enduring G-forces of 4-5g. Crowds are expected to line the Kuwaiti coastline to catch a glimpse of the Wingwalking team on Saturday, March 8, 2014, to mark the opening of the first dedicated boutique in the city for the prestigious watch brand. (Photo by Katsuhiko Tokunaga/Breitling)

Nuns react at the arrival of Pope Francis at the St. Mary's school to attend a meeting of clergy and religious in Nairobi, Kenya, 26 November 2015. Pope Francis is on a six days visit that will take him to Kenya, Uganda and the Repulic of Central Africa from 25 to 30 November. (Photo by Daniel Dal Zennaro/EPA)

An armed man gestures in front of the police headquarters in Slaviansk, April 12, 2014. At least 20 armed militants wearing mismatched camouflage outfits took over the police and security services headquarters in the eastern city of Slaviansk seizing hundreds of handguns. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

A Free Syrian Army fighter walks past a flag of al-Furqan brigade as a rifle hangs from a branch in the orchards of Kafar Zita in Hama countryside January 22, 2015. (Photo by Mohamad Bayoush/Reuters)