This morning, we had nothing scheduled so our plan was to simply hang-out in our apartment, watching TV, eating Baked Apple Skyr for breakfast, my new favoutite flavour sensation!

Around 10am we opened the curtains and were shocked by the attrocious weather. The visibility was down to a few hundred metres as the snow was still coming down.

"I'm not going out in that!" said Julie. Fortunately, we had no reason to step outside.  

Eventually, an hour later, the sky brightened enough for us to venture out and brave the wintry conditions. It was still snowing heavily so we carefully shuffled diagonally across the street and came to Kaffibrennslan.

It looked so inviting, we just had to go in.

We ordered their heitar samlokur (grilled sandwiches), or toasties as we call them. My choice was described as Tommi's style, which was gouda cheese and cheddar cheese with dijon mustard on the side.

Julie's was simply called the Ham 'n Cheese with mayonnaise on the side. They were both served with a packet of Lays (Walker's) ready salted crisps. It was a big hit, delicious comfort food at its best. 

The coffee was great also.

A couple sat next to us were talking about their Golden Circle tour that had been cancelled for today because of the snow. They had another tour, the South Circuit, booked for tomorrow.

"Hopefully the roads will have been cleared by tomorrow" I said, reassuring myself as much as them.  We had ourselves the Golden Circle tour tomorrow.

After staying longer than was necessary, (we even ordered another coffee) we left Kaffibrennslan and made our way to the Hand-knitting Association store where Julie had decided to buy a hat. She's not the biggest fan of headwear but with the snow still coming down it was necessary to keep her hair dry.

It was bright red and soft. She really liked it and at least now she could let her Aunty Brenda know she was wearing one.

Our aim was to reach Hallgrimskirkja church but we almost didn't make it. The weather suddenly changed, the skies darkened, the wind picked up and a blizzard blew in. We crossed the square in front of the church, holding onto each other for dear life. With our heads down we pushed on towards the open door of the church.

It was with great relief we stepped inside the church. There was a reception hall where we could compose ourselves, shake off the snow and respectfully take off our hats.

Stepping inside we in awe.  It was a stunning vaulted design, like walking into a glacial ice cavern, all white but for the light and shade.

The plans of architect Guðjón Samúelsson were commissioned in 1937 and it certainly had the feel of that era, with hints of art deco. Work didn't begin until after the Second World War and took 41 years to complete, opening in 1986.

We walked down the nave, the central aisle, towards the sanctuary at the end.

When we stood in the centre of the church the organ began to play. We turned around to see an impressive instrument, 15 metres tall and 25 tonnes high up on the wall above the entrance.

We stood mesmerised. Despite its gargantuan dimensions it played a delicate tune, whilst at the same time reaching some very deep, thunderous notes.

Taking a pew we closed our eyes and absorbed its energy. For a moment we were carried away to a place of refuge.

Eventually we decided to leave and face the blizzard. It was still snowing and blowing quite heavily but thankfully it seemed less ferocious. Our plan for the afternoon was to find a supermarket for some supplies, then bunker down in the apartment.

Just down Skólavörðustígur was the Krambúð supermarket. We stocked up on essentials and marvelled at the wide selection of skyr yogurt and different flavoured salt, like liquorice salt, lava salt and beech smoked salt which all sounded interesting.

On the way back we passed a colourful outdoor seating area which highlighted how much snow had fallen. The tables and benches of the Kaldi Bar had up to 40cm caked on top. Unbelievable. And it was still snowing! 

We reached Laugavegur, at the corner where Kaffebrennslan was situated. On the opposite corner there was a clothing store covered in this fantasty mural. I couldn't work it out though. There was a hand (top right) and perhaps the waves at the bottom represented the sea, but the rest of it looked abstract.

Back in our apartment we made ourselves some lunch and watched the gameshow Family Fortunes, hosted by Gino Di Campo. We somehow stumbled across a British TV channel.  

Whilst people were answering the question "Name something that's easily broken" an e-mail arrived from the tour company East West about our Golden Cirlce tour tomorrow. It was still on, however they were making us aware that this may be subject to change and there will be an update in the morning.

At 3pm the snow had stopped so we decided to visit Reykjavik's most unique museum, the Hið íslenzka reðasafn,  the Icelandic Phallological Museum or more commonly known as the Penis museum, billed as the world's only genuine penis museum.

The great thing about the attractions in the city, they were all within walking distance. We walked down Laugavegur to Jólaköttur the Yule Cat battered by the snow, its eyes still glowing red.

The entrance wasn't far away and it was easy to find.

It opened in 1997 when Sigurður Hjartarson retired from his career in education. He had amassed a collection of specimems donated to him over the years. He began his collection as a child when he was gifted a bull's penis cattle whip. Now in his eighties his son Hjörtur now manages the museum.

The collection is constantly evolving and now has over 280 penises from 93 different mamals, including a human penis!

We used their free lockers to take off our layers and then paid 5000kr (£15) each to enter the exhibition.

The artefacts were a curious sight, appendages of all shapes and sizes, from a hamster to a sperm whale. Some were bones, others flesh tissue floating in formaldehyde. 

The sperm whale's penis was 170cm long! "This must be Moby's Dick" I joked. Apparently it was just the tip, there was much more to it. I found it fascinating.

Julie was getting a little nauseus looking at all these embalmed specimems in jars.

One of the most curious was the elephant's penis. It appeared to be a wooden carving hung on the wall like a trophy but apparently it was real, just dried or mummified.

Towards the end of the exhibition we saw the human penis gifted by a 95 year old Icelander and friend of the curator. It was unrecognisable as a penis, all shrivelled and grey. Julie's face was a picture. 

The last exhibit we saw was a collection of 15 silver painted casts of penises in honour of Iceland's Olympic silver medal winning Handball team. It was an apropriate ending to quite a peculiarly fascinating collection.   

As with every museum we exited through the gift shop which sold a large selection of phallo-billia where everything and anything was available in the shape of a penis!

Even their christmas tree was decorated with carved wooden penis shaped keyrings and bottle openers.

There was a bar where you could enjoy a pint of Big Cock Ale, Phallic Lager or an IPA which stood for Icelandic Penis Ale! The pump handles were large black rubber penises.

I had a pint of Moby Dick. I thought it would be hilarious to watch the young woman pull my drink but it just felt awkward.

The cafe hd a small menu. Julie and I decided to share some waffles. Of course they were also in the shape of a penis. Despite their novelty appearance they were really tasty, especially with the cream and rhubarb jam.

Moving on we popped inside the Kolaportið market. We were disappointed that it was just a regular market selling stuff we would never buy. I don't know what we were expecting really, we're not into markets, unless it was a food market.

We continued towards the harbour looking for a restaurant called Seabaron that did fish skewers. Someone's YouTube channel recommended them.

Along the way we came across the "Looking Seawards" statue of two fishermen in their souwester waterproofs looking out across the bay. They were looking at ICGV Thor, an Icelandic coast guard patrol vessel.

It reminded me of the Cod Wars in the seventies. I have some recollection of hearing on the news about these clashes between the Icelandic coast guard and the British Royal Navy over a dispute about fishing rights.

The harbour front and the Seabaron restaurant were not far, yet far enough for Julie to abandon her quest for the famous fish skewers. Deciding to head back to the apartment.

 Our route took us to the start of the main street Austurstræti where much of this morning's snow had turned to slush but was now starting to compact and freeze over.

Julie didn't enjoy it one bit.  

Despite having stocked up on some booze from the Vínbúðin off-licence we stopped at a bar called Lemmy, named after the fast-living, heavy drinking lead singer of Motorhead. 

His real name was Ian but he picked up a nickname whilst in school in Amlwch, Anglesey. During his early teens he lived on a farm near Benllech.

They had some memorabillia on the walls, rock music was playing and there was even a pac-man game in the corner, one of Lemmy's favourite arcade games.

It was very dark inside, especially as the windows were all blacked out but it gave it a great vibe. They often have live music but not tonight. 

We were surprised to see they did food. They even had a vegan hotdog on their menu which was tempting but we decided to hang on until later for supper.  It was only 4:30pm! We had a reservation at a Latin American restaurnt for 7pm.

In the back room they were distilling their own spirit, calling it Lemmy's Holy Spirit. They also had a large collection of arcade games. I'm sure Lemmy would have approved but I'm not sure if he ever knew this place existed, he died in 2015, aged 70.

After a round of drinks we continued on our way back to the apartment. It was now completely dark. We past an illuminated Yule cat looking even more terrifying.

Just short of our apartment we stopped at the Einstök bar for another round. It was busy and had a great atmosphere. So much so we decided to stay for another round before going directly to the restaurant for supper.

Despite our reservation we arrived at Selva almost an hour early. The place was empty and we caught the staff by surprise but they were happy for us to sit down and order food.

The menu was a combination of tacos and tapas style dishes. I was looking forward to something different.

We ordered grilled halloumi to share. I then had quesadillas and a cauliflower tacos whilst Julie had chicken skewers and a side of potatoes.

They brought them all out at once which is a pet-hate of mine when eating small plates. It's usually forgiven if the food was good however it wasn't. It was our first bad meal of the trip. My quesadilla and tacos were very greasy, literally dripping with oil. Julie wasn't impressed by the quality of the chicken. She said it reminded her of a chicken nugget, that reconstituted meat.

To add insult to injury our bill, with drinks, came to 17,720kr, well over £100, our most expensive yet.

We were back in our apartment shortly after 7pm where we settled down in front of our iPad to rewatch the first two episodes of the Netflix series Katla. Now recognising some of the landmarks in Vik.

There hadn't been any further e-mails from our tour company so we assumed we were still going ahead with our Golden Circle tour tomorrow. So it was early to bed.