Small Town

LOCATION:Duomo Square, Pistoia
When my alarm clock went off this morning at 4.45 am, I immediately thought two things. The first was, ‘Where am I?’ and the second was ‘Why am I here?!?!?!’ I spent the night in Torino after the show, and between all the excitement and packing for my very early departure, I didn’t get to bed until 1.30 am. This routine has become the norm on this trip, so if anyone thinks following a band around Europe is nothing but fun, think again. (ok, ok, it IS).

I had heard the trip to Pistoia would not be as easy as the others. Apparently, there would be two different trains that would get you to the town well into the afternoon. I could have done that with a few others who were heading down, or I could have taken a train to Florence and a bus from there, putting me in Pistoia around the same time. Because I was catching the European Touring Bus after the show, I needed to get there with enough anticipation so I could leave my bags on the bus beforehand. My only other option was to go with Decides and her traveling crew on the van they rented and have been driving all over Italy. I was a little hesitant at first because although I knew Decides I really didn’t know who was driving and we’d be leaving at 5.45 am. After thinking it through, I figured the best thing would be to go with them, since it would get me into Pistoia early in the day.

Once I met everyone in their hotel, I was relieved because everyone seemed very reliable and responsible. The kid who was driving was a 22 year old Long Islander who had just learned to drive stick and was visiting Europe for the first time. Hey, wait a minute....

The drive to Pistoia took only a few hours and was problem-free. On it were two girls from Canada, Susie and Kristin, a guy from Rhode Island, Ryan and Barbara, an Italian woman living in London. I was actually really impressed with Kev, the driver, because it can’t be easy driving a bunch fans who are a lot older than him through foreign cities. Apparently they’ve had a slew of problems before, and this was the first time they didn’t get lost!

Once in Pistoia, we parked the car and headed over to the Square thinking the ETB would be there, as it has been near the venues for every city. Barbara would also be joining me on the bus that night so we went off in search of it. At the Square, stagehands were just beginning to set everything up. I was able to get behind the stage and take pictures there since it wasn’t yet cut off. No one could actually believe we’d be seeing Pearl Jam here. It was the same feeling we all got with Verona. Pistoia is a small town, the kind of place where it seems everyone knows everyone else. One church, one doctor, one school, etc. And here we were, thousands of Pearl Jam fans overtaking their Square! It’s a big open space, with gorgeous buildings surrounding it and residences lining it. I could tell just by seeing it that tonight’s performance was going to be amazing, if for no other reason than for the place it would be taking place in.

Barbara and I managed to find out where the bus was located and we went off to pick up our bags and drop them off. The hike from where we parked our van to where the bus was parked took us at leas 45 minutes. Walking with backpacks for 45 minutes+extreme heat=NOT FUN! We finally found the bus and went in to drop our stuff off.

When I saw this bus, I couldn’t believe I would actually be staying there. I had heard all sorts of fun things, like there was no water and the bathroom was rancid. I went upstairs where the bunk beds and the lounge were, and it looked like my old fraternity friends’ lofts at NYU. There were beer cans everywhere, cigarette butts and ashes, paper strewn all over the place - it was a mess. But it didn’t smell, so it was cool.

We headed back to the Square and I had a ton of time to kill since I did not have a 10c ticket for this one. I walked around Pistoia’s streets, had some lunch and soaked up a few hours worth of life in a small town, waiting for tonight’s show to take us out of Italy and into new surroundings.