Woke up to a pretty but still a little chilly day and decided to go wandered town before everyone else was awake. It was nice to see Florence without the crowds.

We had tickets for the Accademia at 1 so the plan was to head out to find a lunch spot before getting to the museum. Looking in the area around the museum I noticed a second All’ Antico sandwich shop. This is where we tried to eat the first day but the line was crazy long. I didn’t know there was a second location and by the crowd at this one not too many other people know it either. The sandwich selection were overwhelming and I just went with the safe bet of prosciutto, mozzarella and pesto. It was delicious but I wish I had been more adventurous. Several of us got it and we laughed that the name was the Italian and thought it should have been the American since it was the safe option.

Eating our sandwich on the street with all the pigeons was not the best experience. One did help me clean the crumbs off my shirt so at least they were helpful pigeons. They were also very picky and only wanted the bread crumbs. Bob dropped some prosciutto and several of them tried it but they didn’t eat it and soon were flocking for more bread. There were plenty of crumbs to go around so they were all well fed.

We had an older lady in her housecoat come and beg for money. When we refused she got very animated in her Italian. We of course didn’t understand a word of it but I feel certain she cursed us and all our families.

The line for the Accademia was very well orchestrated. You bought timed entrances that were every 15 minutes. They had it timed to the second. At 12:30 on the dot that line started moving into the museum and about 12:40 the 12:45 line moved into position and at 12:45 the new 1:00 line was started. We were well positioned to be the first group in at 1.

As always the desire to see David makes me rush through the first few rooms on the museum. There are some lovely things in there but I hardly notice them.

But David never disappoints. It is always something to turn that corner and see David at the end of the hall.

It was a bit crowded but not horribly so. We were able to get some good pictures. And Margaret said it was the first time she was able to make it to the backside and see his butt. It is still as amazing to see him as it was on my first trip almost 30 years ago.

I can’t write about the Accademia without talking about the Alessandro Allori paintings that I love.

We only thought we were finished with the Accademia but they have added a new upstairs exhibit room. Only Kelle, Jeff and I ventured up the 3 flights of stairs but it was worth the climb. We saw more alter pieces and one really nice tapestry.

Once we were finished with our cultural experience for the day we began the drinking portion. The first stop was a bar for Kelle and Margaret to continue their Negroni tour. They even picked up a few more converts as Bob and Clark tried them as well. Faye and I split a bottle of prosecco and Jeff had red wine as usual.

After bar one we headed to bar 2 where we had seen a sign that said happy drinks 3-6. We thought we needed some happy drinks and were ever hopeful happy meant cheap or at least cheaper. We were correct on both counts. They had my new Sarti Spritz which I thoroughly enjoyed the Negroni team lost a member when Bob ordered a Long Island ice tea. Jeff again with red wine. We thought e needed a snack and ordered a couple of pizzas and a cheese board. All were good and we enjoyed our break.

We did another grocery run on the way back to the apartment because of course we needed more wine, cheese and snacks.

We picked another close place for dinner and we were not as lucky as the first night. It was fine but not great.

We had an early morning time for our wine tour so we had an early evening. All in all a good day.