Rachel’s guide to Amsterdam

Get the first BA flight of the day – catch the cheese and ham croissant they throw at you

Don’t go into the city ( although it is beautiful , but we’ve been there loads before ) …

Stay on Rico

eat pickled herring butties from a stall

within 2 hours of arriving drink very strong beer, fall asleep on the roof of Rico and wake up ,with blue legs ( from the tarpaulin )

Go the Brouwerij – drink more very strong beer , meet up with Freya and Jacob’s friends Mike and Tom

Eat outside at ‘Rosa and Ritas ‘by the canal

Go to a bar , play Doms and Contract Whist .Meet the locals . Join in the sing-song around the piano .Fall out of the bar at 2.30

fall asleep on Rico

Wake up with wet legs ( no longer blue- although the sheets were ) having left the skylight open .

Eat huge breakfast , get the train to Utrecht, sight-see , marvel at the big organ in The Dom Cathedral . Find a lovely bar on the canal wharf, eat Bitterballen , drink more beer , play Scrabble – let Jacob win , watch the Stags and Hens sail past , Get the Sprinter Train back To Dam and then the boat to the north and have a fabulous dinner in an old metal container – Pllek . Boat back , another bar – play Doms ( not as in the cathedral , but as in the 28 tiles with dots on ) – Freya won , Contract Whist , stagger back , leap onto Rico .

Hire a car , get someone else to drive it ( Jacob ) and go walking in the most amazing national park, Kootwijkerzande.

Get very lost and very wet and marvel at where Jacob is going to set his next film ..think Serengeti meets the Black Forest meets The Southern Sahara .

Picnic in the car ,spot wild boar , drive home, dry out , eat big boat dins ,drink more beer ,watch Emily’s and Katie’s wedding videos .

Come home .

Thank you to Jacob and Freya for another wonderful weekend in Dam .