Reading about Venice last night, I came across a tidbit from an old ('97) guidebook: that, if you order a drink at Florian's while the band is playing, you pay extra. Is this true? We happily overpaid for the Florian's experience in '97 and plan to do it again about two weeks (excitement is building!!), because we completely agree with those who say you simply have to do it, cost be damned. But...is it true about the music-in-progress tax? *That*, at least, can be easily avoided; forewarned is forearmed, eh?

It was true back in the 1970s and it's true now.

But be aware that "while the band is playing" means "the period during which the band is on duty (and may or may not be playing)".

The bands in Piazza San Marco take turns playing; if you happen to sit at Florian while it's the Quadri band that's playing, you still pay the "music tax" at Florian.

Yes, but that back and forth playing between Florian and Quadri switches about every 5 to 10 minutes. So to miss one orchestra playing, you'd sure have to drink and run.

I could be mistaken but it seems the last couple of times we've sat and drank and enjoyed the music, there was no separate music charge. I'm thinking it was just that the prices were much higher for each item. As I said, I could be wrong on that.

drunk! "we've sat and drunk" -- not drank.

drink, drank, has, have or had drunk.
I think "we drank", simple past is OK.

Sorry, I missed the "'ve"! "We've drunk" it is. Perhaps I have had too much to drink.

hee hee. Peggyann, I'm sort of sensitive about this, because I used to say "I've seen. . ." and people would correct me saying "you mean you SAW, not seen". I guess they didn't hear that I was saying "I've" and not "I". But there is a difference between seeing something once and seeing it numerous times. So "I've seen" is different from saying "I saw".

So "we've sat and we've drunk" is correct as opposed to "we've sat and we've drank".

Sorry, just thought I'd fix my own error, before the usual grammar police came along. The other day someone chastised me for using three question marks at the end of a sentence instead of 1 -- GASP!

Thanks for clearing that up, Zerlina and NeoPatrick. Now that I think about it, I believe we sat and drank during the afternoon, before the bands began playing, and just visited the piazza and wandered around listening to the music in the evenings. At any rate, whatever they charge, it's worth it for the experience!

OK. But upon rereading the sentence in question, I'm wondering if the first we've covers the second verb involved. If he haad said "we've sat and we've ----, it surely calls for "drunk"

But should the second "we've" be missing, as it is in the sentence,are we to assume that it is implied?????
I feel that five question marks are surely called for here.
In any event, sitting and drinking at Florian's are wonderful things to do.