I flew into Schiphol from Minneapolis/St. Paul, and what a sight. The whole place is decked out for Christmas–lights, trees, festive decorations. It’s positively decadent.

Like any airport, it has its shops.

I promised my friend Rae that I’d find and eat Stroopwafel while I was in Amsterdam. I wandered the terminals and finally found some in a vending machine.

For those who aren’t familiar with the magical Stroopwafel, it is a kind of cookie made of wafers with thick, almost caramel-like syrup in between. An inverted waffle, basically. Madness, perhaps, but truly delicious.

Back to the shops. The standard sort – newspapers, bars, junk food – were present, but I have to point out some of the specialty shops:

Bulbs. I can’t imagine they’d do all that well on a plane, but… all right!

Yes, this is a buffet of chocolate.

From Schiphol, I boarded a tiny Airbus for the two-hour flight to Florence. Much of Europe was covered with snow, the landscape all white peppered with the black shapes of buildings and patches of forest. It was breathtaking–and then we passed over the Alps.