The morning light revealed the white cliffs across the harbour that can be seen from the windows of the apartment. I think it is Engey Island where Puffins can be found, it is uninhabited but there are lights suggesting some sort of structures.

The sun does not rise here until about 11:15am but I could see activity at the apparent bus stop, for hotel connections and scenic tours, start early in the dark as a grader scraped snow and ice off the road.

Most establishments do not open until 10am so we took our time preparing for the day of exploring the city centre on foot. I layered up with my thick stockings and fleecy leggings, a wool jumper under my tunic, a warm scarf, gloves and my long warm lined boots from Krakow. The boots have a rubber sole so they are non slip, important when we might encounter ice on the journey.

We headed past the Christmas Cat sculpture and visited stores as we ambled along. The main reason for all the ‘shopping’ was to get out of the cold and warm up again. It was a crisp cold luckily with no wind.

We found the Rainbow Road which is on the way to the famous Hallgrimskir church. In the approach to the church, there is a statue of Leif Erikson also known as Leif the Lucky. He was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North America (Vinland) approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus.

The church is an imposing structure that dominates the skyline. There were many tourists milling around but not so many to make it annoying. We entered the church for warmth and knew that we could view the city from the top of the tower. Fortunately there is an elevator to take us up the 8 floors to the viewing platform. We marveled at the vistas of the city from the barred open windows. Visibility was excellent!

Time for some sustenance, so we decided to try the soup restaurant, Svarta Kaffið that Narelle recommended. They only serve two types of soup each day, one with meat and a vego option. We both chose the lamb, tomato, barley and vegetable soup which was served in a rye cob. This was washed down with a shot of Brennivin, an Icelandic clear herbal spirit. Very tasty and warming!

The waxing gibbous moon is very visible in the sky and will be a full moon tomorrow.

There are lots of souvenir shops and wool stores and it is true that everything is very expensive when converted into our currency.

We made our way down to the harbour and the impressive Concert Hall named Harpa. The building features a distinctive coloured glass facade inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland.

It was warm inside and we admired the structure of glass ‘cells’ that captured the light.

We then strolled back to our apartment, intending to grab some hotdogs from the famous Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (The City’s Best Hotdog) which is located on the corner of Tryggvagata (our apartment street) and Pósthússtræti. The stand reached global fame when former US President Bill Clinton visited Iceland in 2004.

The queue was too long and it was not worth the waiting in the cold. We bought some supplies at the Pósthús and took them to our apartment.

It’s like living in a postcard when I look out at our windows of our airBnB apartment.

The white cliffs morph as the sun makes it way across the sky. Sunset was at around 3:15pm.

Scott went out searching for a Christmas souvenir and then returned with hotdogs from the famous hotdog stand. They were tasty and the the fried onions were crunchy. We decided to stay in the warmth of our apartment for the rest of the evening.

G óða Nótt