Amsterdam:

A lot has happened since I last blogged. I guess I am getting a little too used to placing things on Facebook. But it's not the same as writing a short story, so here goes another one you would never read in entirety if I had posted it on Facebook.

The last few months we've been living and working in Amsterdam and commuting back and forth to Newcastle; well at least I have, with Amanda and the kids joining me for three of the weeks.

Amsterdam is amazing and I always knew that it had a split personality with its wonderful canals, bikes, food and the other stuff that Amanda and I call Disneyland for adults. What I never realized is how important this city was for individual liberty and liberal thinking that was crucial for the way that the United States developed.

The book is written by an American ex-pat who discovered for himself how his adopted city had such a tremendous influence on his native country, the US of A. It's disappointing how the word 'liberal' has such a politicized connotation these days, given that it was and is everything that defines places like the United States. It's all about freedom and liberty, something I think every American strives for.

Anyhow, I never would have known the history of this remarkable city were it not for Claartje Levelt who hosted us for a lunch at her house in Leiden one beautiful Saturday in April and her husband gave us the book called Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City. As we enjoyed Dutch melted butter over white asparagus and eggs (as well as some amazing bagels from a recipe that a Dutch businessman had borrowed from New York) we also learned a bit about the country we were living in, albeit temporarily.

We're back now in Newcastle after our adventures in Amsterdam, which are pictorially pretty well documented on Facebook. Maya loved Amsterdam so much that she wants me to read her this book at night to help her fall asleep. Mind you the book is not for kids and I have to skip the seedy parts of history (war, bloodshed etc.). Plus there are many words that even I would have to look up in the dictionary.

Tonight we finished reading chapter two which is called "The Water Problem". It details much of the history of the city around the 1500s when the Dutch people created a city out of a large body of water. There was also the Miracle of Amsterdam which is an amusing story of how religion came to the city because of a miracle (no spoilers here), followed by the transformative trade in herrings, then by a war between Protestants and Catholics speckled with a little bit of the Spanish Inquisition.

The point of all of this is that after the chapter finished, Maya who I wasn't sure was following any of this protested, not because of the complex words or ideas about Amsterdam's rich history, but because of something else that really annoyed her about the chapter. She said "Dad, can I write Russell Shorto a letter and tell him that the chapter on The Water Problem had nothing to do with Water!?!". She was annoyed that Russell had taken 30 pages to, according to her, sidestep the water topic of the chapter to go on wild tangents about a Communion biscuit that wouldn't burn in the fire, how tasty herrings were and how mean people were over religion (Protestant or Catholic).

I kissed her on the forehead and said, "Yes of course Maya. We can write Russell." Funny how caught up I had gotten with the back to back stories that a 10 year old had to remind me that the author of the book had lost track of what he intended to tell us about.

Alrighty then. We're well on our way in this fascinating and somewhat unfocused book, which gives us a new perspective on the city we lived in with every page that we read. It is also striking how revolutionary ideas and evolution in our thinking often coincide with major upheavals, fighting and war. And we've only just got to chapter 3!