As our initial visit to Amsterdam drew to a close, we decided to rent a car and explore the outlying areas of The Netherlands.

Brian with our rental car, a Renault Kangoo. A fun little car that a lot of companies use as delivery vans. Love those European cars!

Us in Volendam, the city that's so touristy, it seems like they built it just for tourists. But there were plenty of fishing boats and old Dutch folk here.

Here's Brian standing on one of the many hand-operated bridges in Volendam. Sea level is about equal to the top of the roofs you see.

Kelly on one of the big dikes between Volendam and Edam. The sea is about 8 feet down on one side, the road about 25 feet down on the other.

Kelly in Edam. We didn't buy any cheese here, though.

>>> One of several wind farms along the massive 32-km dike we drove across. The dike included a radio station you could tune to for a musical interpretation of the drive. Dutch tax dollars at work!