Well it is about time I will tell about my little trip to great Mother Russia from little Denmark
First of all I was so confident in that I would easily be going to Russia to attend the concert that I booked the plane and concert tickets to the Saint Petersburg concert before carefully reading about the visa conditions... that was a mistake
When I found out that I needed "an invitation" from somewhere in Russia to accept me I got a bit depressed. I just wanted to go to see the concert and Saint Petersburg, but I had just "invited" myself, no one was awaiting me. This problem combined with the fact that I had to travel to Copenhagen (which is in the other part of Denmark from my home) just to give my passport and fingerprints and then return to Copenhagen again later to get the visa, was not cheering me up. Luckily, I found out that a travel agency closer to my home could get me an invitation and handle the visa request for me.
10 days before my departure I got my visa and was ready to go! I had a lot of thoughts about Russia before I arrived on how the people and culture were, but I mostly got only positively surprised. People were nice and kind - which one might have guessed, not so different again from other countries
I had only 1,5 days in St. Petersburg and I really got the most out of my time! I saw the Peter Paul (Romero
) Island with its Cathedral and prison (where Lenin's brother had been imprisoned), the Church of the Savior on Blood (built on the place where emperor Alexander II was wounded and later died from a bomb attack in 1881), the Anichkov Bridge (with four amazing, wild horses), the Kazan Cathedral and of course the Winter Place, the old home of the emperors of Russia.
I also had the opportunity to try out some delicious food around the city, for instance I got a modern version of the traditional beetroot soup Borscht. All very great and cheap considering I was in a large city.
Now, I did go all the way to attend the Heroes concert with Paul Romero accompanied by an orchestra. The concert took place in The Palace of Culture, an old theater with a real lot of charm to it (but equally old chairs). I wore my beautiful H3SW t-shirt which
Uhm brought me last year in Poland, but no one recognized it. I was a bit disappointed. Anyway, the musicians began finding their spots and suddenly the concert had begun. Just the orchestra and conductor were on stage making a beautiful intro with the "Win Scenario" theme from both H2 and H3. That really got the right Heroes mood up. Then Paul Romero entered the stage of course to a great applause. Paul together with the Orchestra played a lot of H3 themes, all amazing! Then Brock, the saxophonist of H2 and H4, came and joined Paul and just they played a medley of melodies from H2 and H4. The most fantastic moment was when they suddenly began playing the Sorceress theme from Heroes II. It sounded beautiful with just the piano and the saxophone. It is my favorite Heroes theme and I was so happy they played it, but in the past Paul has only played part of the song and skipped the bridge part, which I adore so much. Because of this, I didn't expect them to play the whole song, but they did. It almost came as a quiet shock to me hearing the bridge played live for the first time in such a truly fantastic way..
Then Paul would play more H3 themes along with the Orchestra and most of the time he told the audience about his inspiration. For instance for the Inferno theme he thought of a forest fire that slowly, but surely spread. The Dungeon themes was inspired by the Evil Witch's guards from Wizard of Oz and Fortress was made with inspiration of "tippy toeing" (walking quietly on your toes trying not to make any noise) in a fortress/bank to steal something. Some Campaign themes along with terrain themes (H2 and H3 ocean themes!! ) were played and three encore themes were played again in the end. The audience wouldn't let Paul go, as it has happened before, clapping and cheering for him very passionately. When it was clear that he had left the stage for the final time (he came back thrice) people would begin to head towards the exits. I was unsure if there was a "meet-and-greet" session or something similar and I stood up in front of the stage waiting. A mother and her little daughter joined me. The mother told me that her daughter was a huge fan of Paul's music - who would have guessed that a little girl would fall in love with video games music that is 20 years old
Well, we kept on waiting a few minutes as other people left. Then the only not kind Russian I met came in form of a security guard. I didn't understand him as he only spoke Russian, but it was clear for me that he wanted us to leave immediately. The mother tried to explain the situation, but the security guard was ice cold. I also tried, but only got a reply on Russian telling me to leave. Then magic happened as Brock Summers came back on the stage! I called his name and he recognized me and got Paul out. When Paul saw us waiting for him he came down and was so nice as he always is. He took his time to talk to the little crowd left and get pictures taken. I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with him and Brock and also get a nice picture. After that the theater closed and we were escorted by the security guard all the way outside. Funny enough, the last person that wanted a picture with Paul was the security guard that tried to throw us out of the same reason... That is what I call irony
All in all, I had a great time in Russia. Lovely city and an amazing concert!! I would like to attend both again..
P.S.
Uhm I got my t-shirt signed by both Paul and Brock
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