Lesson 3 Journey into Another Culture
A Trip to the Netherlands
Before my trip to the Netherlands, all I knew of the country was that it is ____ for windmills and tulips.
But as I ____ from place to place, I experienced many things that I hadn’t expected, and I wanted to share some of them with you.
The Anne ____ House and the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam
My first stop was the Anne Frank House, one of the old buildings lined up along the Prinsengracht, a ____ in Amsterdam.
Since it was close to the hotel I was staying at, I decided to rent a ____ to go there.
I enjoyed riding along the ____.
The Anne Frank House is one of the most ____ museums in the Netherlands.
It housed the ____ hiding place of Anne Frank.
____ was an old bookcase on the second floor.
It looked ordinary, but behind it was a secret space where Anne and her family hid for ____ two years during World War II.
The steep stairs and narrow passages ____ me a better understanding of what life must have been like for them back then.
After visiting the Anne Frank House, I took a canal cruise on the ____.
The canal houses I saw along the way had ____ been built during the Dutch Golden Age, which gives them great historical value.
____ the cruise was a great way to see the city from different angles.
The gentle touch of the wind made the experience even ____ pleasant.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is home to a lot of museums, but the ____ Gogh Museum was the one I was really excited to visit.
The most interesting part of the museum was the way the exhibits were arranged to show how the artist’s style ____ changed over time.
The museum showed many of Vincent van Gogh’s ____ well-known works, including my personal favorites: The Bedroom, Sunflowers, and Wheatfield with Crows.
The bright colors in The Bedroom seemed to convey a sense of ____.
The ____ shades of yellow in Sunflowers were just amazing.
In Wheatfield with ____, the contrast between the bright yellow wheat field and the cool blue sky was striking.
Overall, ____ the artworks in person was a very powerful experience.
The museum also displayed the letters that Van ____ wrote to his younger brother, Theo.
Reading those letters, I found ____ how much the artist loved his brother.
After I bought a few postcards with Van Gogh’s art on them, I ____ cycled back to the hotel.
On my way back, I couldn’t ____ but admire the beautiful, calm, and scenic views of the city, especially people relaxing on the grass and enjoying the sun.
Windmills in the Zaanse Schans and Seafood in Volendam
I ____ recommend visiting the Zaanse Schans and Volendam if you want to get out of the busy city to experience traditional Dutch culture.
A trip to the Netherlands wouldn’t be ____ without a visit to the windmills.
Fortunately, you can get to the Zaanse Schans, which is famous for its windmills, in just 17 minutes by train ____ Amsterdam.
The moment I saw the ____, its beauty took my breath away.
____ windmills were spinning by the river in the distance.
Soon I felt like I was taken to a ____ in the past.
I looked into one of the working windmills, and it was grinding nuts into oil with its ____ stone wheels.
____ the windmills, I found a cheese farm and a clog factory.
I was surprised by the variety of Dutch cheeses and actually a little ____ about tasting them at first because they were mostly new to me.
However, when I tried some of them, they turned ____ to be incredibly satisfying.
I ____ tried on a few pairs of clogs and found them quite comfortable, which I hadn’t expected.
____ was a pretty fishing village with neat rows of brick houses with orange roofs.
The ____ was dotted with boats.
I ____ a bike to explore Volendam, and the shop owner said,
“In Volendam, do as the locals do and ____ seafood.”
At a restaurant, I ordered one of the Netherlands’ ____ popular dishes, kibbeling.
The fried fish snack was hot, fresh, and ____ delicious!
The Cube Houses in Rotterdam
After being completely destroyed during World War II, Rotterdam was restored ____ a beautiful port city.
Experimental and artistic constructions were used to improve the ____ of the city.
The Cube Houses in Rotterdam are among the most innovative ____ in the country.
The bright yellow houses were something I had been looking ____ to seeing, and they were as fantastic as I had expected.
____ of the key features of the Cube Houses is that the cubes are tilted by 45 degrees.
I visited the Show Cube ____ to get a feel of what life in such a house was like.
From the outside, it looked entirely twisted, but once I went ____, it was surprisingly quite comfortable.
For the last few ____ after the trip, I haven’t been able to get the charming sights of the Netherlands out of my mind.
If you ever plan to visit the country, I really hope that you will find my ____ helpful.