We woke up early to check our e-mails. There wasn't anything from EasyJet and the status of our 8:30pm flight tonight was showing as "on time". So it was all systems go ... or was it?

Safetravel.is was still showing the roads as closed. Keflavik was inaccesible, so we needed some clarity if we had to find our way to the airport or not! I phoned the EasyJet help line but they seemed only to have access to the same screens that I saw online.

"The status of the flight is on-time" he said. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know!

Julie suggested  I should phone the airport so that's what I did. They spoke with authority and clarity which gave me confidence in believeing what they were talking about. She explained that whilst flights from the UK may arrive, there will be no flights leaving Keflavik today.

With that information, our groundhog day began.

We checked out of our room, left our luggage in reception, and crossed the street to Kaffibrennslan  for our gooey cheese toasties.

Finally an email arrived from EasyJet, not cancelling the flight but informing us it was delayed until tomorrow. It techncally meant the same thing but at least we didn't have to rebook ourselves onto another flight.

We immediately searched for accomodation. Our hotel did have a room available but it came with an "external" toilet. They didn't mean an outside lavatory, just one outside the room, across the hallway but even that was inconvenient enough for us to look elsewhere.

The first one we came across at a reasonable price was Hotel Leifur Eriksson.

"That'll do" we both said.

We didn't have a rescheduled flight time so we resigned ourselves to not being able to do the Blue Lagoon tomorrow. 

The weather conditions weren't pleasant. It was windy today, so it felt even colder. The wind also brough a new hazard. The snow piled on the rooftops was being shaken loose. We saw a sign that warned of "snow avalanche" from the roof.

Hætta! Snjohengja.

 Not wanting to wander aimlessly around the city on such a day we collected our suitcase and wheeled it up Skólavörðustígur towards Hallgrimskirkja where our hotel was located, right at the end of the street, in front of the church and the Leifur Eriksson statue. It was in a great spot!

We arrived at 12:30pm and went to reception, hoping to find the room all ready for us. It wasn't.

Check-in was 3pm, so we parked ourselves in the bar/ dining room to wait. Marigold, the Japanese receptionst, very kindly offered us a free coffee from the vending machine.

After half an hour I was getting bored and decided to head our for a brisk walk and supply run.

I walked straight down Frakkastigur street to the waterfront where, after crossing the Sæbraut main road, I came to the sculpture called the Sun Voyager. The blue sky, the cold sea and all the snow and ice made the stainless steel structure of the skeletal boat look even more beautiful.

It was installed in 1990 and created by Jón Gunnar Árnason evoking the viking spirit of discovery and adventure, setting sail West towards the setting sun. 

I continuned West along the shoreline. The icy wind was whipping in from the North, unbareably cold and blustery. A few strong gusts almost blew me over. I didn't want to stay out there too long so I marched as quickly as I could towards the Harpa concert hall.

From there I returned into the centre of the city to pick up supplies for the room. 

As I left the 10-11 Julie phoned me. Our flight tomorrow was confirmed as 9:30pm. I took refuge from the weather in a doorway and contacted both the bus company and the Blue Lagoon to rebook for tomorrow. 

It was 2pm when I made it back to the hotel and moments later we were given the keys to our room. It was in the attic, 5 floors up, without a lift. The suitcase never felt so heavy!

The room had a great view of the church but it was a twin bed room.

"This won't do" said Julie.

So we left the luggage in the room and returned to reception to have a word with Marigold. She apologised. Our booking was for a double room. 

She even insisted on coming upstairs with us to carry our suitcase down to the new room, which was a bit strange. It was very basic but at least it had a double bed and the wi-fi worked well.

We checked our emails we hadn't received a message from the bus company confirming if they had bumped today's booking to tomorrow.  So I made the decision to pay for another bus to the Blue Lagoon and then on to the airport.

At least if the roads were to open, we had in our hands confirmed tickets.

At 5pm we left our room and walked literally next door to restaurant ROK.

We enjoyed our previous visit so much we wanted to have another experience before going home. I had to order the beetroot & lentil "steak"again. It was just as good if not better.

I also went for a mushroom wellington. I knew that being small plates it would be more of a sausage roll in size. It was basically a slice of beef wellington without the beef, stuffed puff pastry with a mushroom duxelle. So tasty.

Julie turned adventurous and tried the reindeer. "How's Rudolph?" I asked.

"Bloody lovely" was the reply.

The food here at ROK had defintely been the best our trip.

We left the restaurant around 6pm and returned to our hotel, stopping briefly to admire the Hallgrimskirkja illumiated by a white light giving it the impression of being made out of steel. "That would make a great album cover for a Death Metal band" I thought to myself.

Its bellfry was lit with a warm light it look like a beacon.

We sat in our room for a while, twiddling our thumbs, before deciding to head out.

I had discovered there was a Brewdog pub in Reykjavik when I went for a walk earlier in the day. It wasn't far, just a few minutes away, down Frakkastigur. If I had remembered my password to my app to prove that I was technically a "shareholder" (after buying equity shares in 2020) I would have had 5% discount!

We sat beneath a neon sign that read "PUNK" looking the least punk we had ever looked! I had a Punk IPA and Julie a glass of wine. 

We weren't hungry, but we weren't full either, so we ordered some food in the form of kebabs or skwered chunks. Julie the chicken and I had celeriac. They both came in some jerk sauce which was surprisingly tasty.

We stayed out as late as we could. We had a good feeling that it was our last night in Reykjavik and we were heading home tomorrow. The weather forecast for tomorrow was looking good, the roads were clearing slowly. Despite having a great time in Iceland we were ready to go home.