It's all the more amusing, then, that the stores' employees appear to believe they're working for Apple and tried to protect the brand by stopping people from taking photos in the store. BirdAbroad says she convinced employees that she and her husband were Americans who worked for Apple and were checking out local stores. The staffs then relaxed their photography policies.

The whole thing is so fantastical that you might think it's a hoax. If so, it's an elaborate one; BirdAbroad's blog dates back to 2009, with 10 pages of posts that have nothing to do with Apple. Elaborate fake Apple Stores aren't unheard of, either. The New York Times' Nick Bilton says he last year in Quito, Ecuador.

I guess it just shows how far people are willing to go to replicate the Apple experience. Any bets on whether you need an appointment to speak with a counterfeit Apple Genius?