Lesson 3 Journey into Another Culture
A Trip to the Netherlands
Before my trip to the Netherlands, all I ____ of the country was that it is famous for windmills and tulips.
But as I cycled from place to place, I ____ many things that I hadn’t expected, and I wanted to share some of them with you.
The ____ Frank House and the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam
My first stop was the Anne ____ House, one of the old buildings lined up along the Prinsengracht, a canal in Amsterdam.
Since it was close to the hotel I was staying at, I decided to rent a ____ to go there.
I enjoyed ____ along the canal.
The Anne Frank House is ____ of the most visited museums in the Netherlands.
It housed the secret hiding ____ of Anne Frank.
There was an ____ bookcase on the second floor.
It looked ordinary, but behind it was a secret space where Anne and her family hid for over two years during World ____ II.
The steep stairs and narrow passages gave me a better understanding of what life must have ____ like for them back then.
After visiting the Anne Frank ____, I took a canal cruise on the Prinsengracht.
The canal houses I saw along the way had mostly been built during the Dutch Golden Age, which gives them ____ historical value.
Taking the cruise was a great way to see the ____ from different angles.
The gentle ____ of the wind made the experience even more pleasant.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is home to a lot of museums, but the Van Gogh Museum was the one I was ____ excited to visit.
The most interesting part of the museum was the way the exhibits were arranged to show how the artist’s style had changed over ____.
The ____ showed many of Vincent van Gogh’s most well-known works, including my personal favorites: The Bedroom, Sunflowers, and Wheatfield with Crows.
The bright colors in The Bedroom ____ to convey a sense of relaxation.
The different shades of yellow in ____ were just amazing.
In Wheatfield with Crows, the contrast between the bright ____ wheat field and the cool blue sky was striking.
Overall, seeing the artworks in person was a very ____ experience.
The museum also displayed the letters that Van Gogh wrote to his younger brother, ____.
Reading those letters, I found out ____ much the artist loved his brother.
After I bought a few postcards with Van ____ art on them, I slowly cycled back to the hotel.
On my way back, I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful, calm, and scenic views of the city, especially ____ relaxing on the grass and enjoying the sun.
Windmills in the Zaanse Schans and Seafood in Volendam
I highly recommend visiting the Zaanse Schans and Volendam if you want to get ____ 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 ____, in just 17 minutes by train from Amsterdam.
The moment I saw the village, its beauty ____ my breath away.
____ windmills were spinning by the river in the distance.
Soon I felt like I was ____ to a point in the past.
I looked into one of the working windmills, and it was ____ nuts into oil with its large stone wheels.
Near the windmills, I ____ a cheese farm and a clog factory.
I was surprised by the variety of Dutch cheeses and ____ a little unsure 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 also tried on a few pairs of clogs and found them quite comfortable, ____ I hadn’t expected.
Volendam was a pretty ____ village with neat rows of brick houses with orange roofs.
The ____ was dotted with boats.
I rented a bike to explore ____, and the shop owner said,
“In Volendam, do as the locals do and eat ____.”
At a restaurant, I ordered one of the Netherlands’ most popular ____, kibbeling.
The ____ fish snack was hot, fresh, and absolutely delicious!
The Cube Houses in Rotterdam
After being completely ____ during World War II, Rotterdam was restored into a beautiful port city.
Experimental and artistic constructions were used to improve the appearance of the ____.
The Cube ____ in Rotterdam are among the most innovative buildings in the country.
The ____ yellow houses were something I had been looking forward to seeing, and they were as fantastic as I had expected.
One of the key ____ of the Cube Houses is that the cubes are tilted by 45 degrees.
I visited the Show Cube Museum to get a feel of what ____ in such a house was like.
From the ____, it looked entirely twisted, but once I went inside, it was surprisingly quite comfortable.
For the last ____ days 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 post ____.