This is going to be worse then the Real World
The Washington Post this morning (via) has a story about a grave looming danger facing Washington, DC: Dan Brown fans. They are coming, whether we like it or not:
In just six days, residents will awaken to find themselves in a changed city. One invaded by Founding Fathers scandal, by fictitious Harvard symbologists, by very short chapters ending in cliffhangers and exclamation points! One to which the tourists will flock, brandishing conspiracy theories. We want the real story, they’ll say to helpless docents at the Smithsonian, perhaps, or the Scottish Rite Masonic temple. This is the real story, docents will reply. No, the reeeeal story. Wink wink.
Washington is about to be Dan Browned.
Yikes. This is all because Brown’s upcoming book, “The Lost Symbol”, is set in my fine city and will have the usual plot revolving around various clues and secrets hidden all over. I can already picture the specialized tour buses, the throngs of fanny pack wearing (sorry mom) tourists, the t-shirt and map venders. And its not like D.C. needs more tourists either but at least before they were mostly contained to the monuments and museums. Now they’ll be traipsing up 16th St, four-wide on the sidewalk. Here’s an example from the Post of what happened to some European sites mentioned by Brown:
When Dan Brown comes to town, things get a little bit nutty.
Just ask Colin Glynne-Percy, director of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust, the rural Scottish church featured in “The Da Vinci Code,” which Langdon believed to be the location of the Holy Grail.
“Before the book came out, we had about 40,000 visitors a year,” Glynne-Percy says. “It went to 80,000. Then to 120,000. Then to 175,000. We had very small facilities. We had only two restrooms. We could survive on that for 40,000 but . . .” They’ve put in temporary bathrooms and added several new staff members.
Look I’m not one of the snobs who look down on fans of Dan Brown. I’ve read all of his books and enjoyed them. Would I rely on Brown for my historical knowledge? Probably not but nothing wrong with being entertained. Having said that if you say “The Da Vinci Code” is your favorite book I will judge you.
Holla at me