Day 0: Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

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.