Sweden at Schiphol

One hour to go before boarding the flight to Philly. The second level of Schiphol promised even more shopping experiences. It also provided a lot of opportunities to see Swedish culture abroad. I stumbled upon several Swedish products while wandering around the departures area upstairs. So far, I've seen Swedish books, stores, and food. I've even heard Swedish music over the airport speakers.

Swedish crime fiction is still hot. Three different authors are represented here. 

Clothing giant H&M is almost as ubiquitous as other multinationals like Apple and Starbucks.

Raw samon cured with salt, dill, and sugar. Not too popular here. This is on sale, 40% off.

Daim, a typical and popular type of Swedish candy. It used to be called Dajm. It was changed to make it more English friendly.

I also found a library smack in the middle of the departures area. It's simply called Airport Library and it is the first permanent airport library in the world. It's made up of several couches, two long desks with iPads, free wifi and outlet plugs for charging electronic equipment. Several shelving units sit behind the desks and include books on Amsterdam and the Netherlands in different languages. I like! Right now, several people are using the library, including myself, naturally.

It's about time for me to leave Europe, so I'll say farewell until I hit the other side of the Atlantic. I will leave at 12 PM and get to Philadelphia around 4 PM, with flying time clocking in at about eight hours. The magic of crossing time zones going West. An eight hour flight takes only four going the other way. The flight is not fully booked, so no chance of a bump for me. Maybe from Philly to Houston? I would take it if they offered!