They don’t want us to see it being repaired papier mâché.
I’d also like to see the work being done. They do a similar thing in Italy, too, hanging a picture of building in front of the scaffolding when it’s being renovated – but the whole building. I wonder whether the execs responsible for this kind of thing think tourists will stop coming if they ‘see’ the construction works. Tbh I can fully believe the suits making these decisions to be so bereft of artistic appreciation that they think others are like them and won’t really notice the difference between a picture and the real thing.
We may be looking at the same contradiction that leads museums and galleries to obsess over original pieces, even though the curators are often duped by replicas or try to dupe the public with replicas.
Back to the topic in hand: have you read Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth or The Evening and the Morning?
I can’t help with this exact question.
But I can say that I’ve visited the US and been gobsmacked. Absolutely baffled. By the way things are and the fact that 300+ million people put up with it. (Although we could probably say the same about any non-socialist country.)
Unnecessarily hostile and aggressive border guards ruin every trip before it starts.
Shops are hard to find.
And before you think about finding a shop, you better figure out if you can walk at all.
If you do walk, expect to be questioned by the police. And by well-meaning locals.
Everyone expects a tip (I understand why, but it’s a strange experience).
You have to work out the tax. That tax always seems very low to me.
Gas prices always seem very low, too, in comparison to the price I usually pay. (Then again, as I understand it, Americans spend more on their rent and other essentials than where I am, so I can see why people complain about fuel prices.)
Food prices are high! Food seemed to cost about three times what it costs where I live (pre-pandemic).
The cost of being a visitor in the US, per day, is double [edit: or triple] that in most of Europe.
I’m unsure if this is anything like what you were looking for. But my brief experience so shocked me that I am unlikely to emigrate, and any future visits are likely to be short ones. (This isn’t a reflection on people as a whole, who seem to be as polite as people anywhere, so far as generalisations are possible.)
Edit: changed a paragraph because it meet have sounded mean, which I did not intend.
It’s a shame they didn’t paint it like a ladybird. Those balloons please the crowds. Hard to be angry at a spy if they’re waving at the children as they float past.