Fame And Expectation

Satan's World, II. (here)

In Lunograd:

"Gagarin Corridor ended, like many others, at Titov Circus. The hollow cylinder of space, reaching from a skylighting dome where Earth and stars gleamed, down to the depths of excavation, was not as big as Falkayn's impression had been from its fame. But it was built in early days, he reflected." (p. 337)

This is well observed. Titov Circus is a real place (in the Technic History), was built early and is famous but is not as big as Falkayn had expected. The same contradiction between expectation and reality applies to people. Characters who meet Nicholas van Rijn or, later, Dominic Flandry must compare their earlier impression with the real person. 

Heinlein's characters are only a few years or a couple of decades away from early days in Luna City. Miss Stone says:

"'I was here when Luna City was three air-sealed Quonset huts connected by tunnels you crawled through on your knees.'"

-Robert Heinlein, "'It's Great To Be Back!'" IN Heinlein, The Green Hills Of Earth (London, 1967), pp. 74-92 AT p. 74 -

- whereas Falkayn is in Lunograd centuries after Lunar colonization in his timeline.

Two great future history series.