A really cool break in Iceland

As a little surprise for my wife's birthday and our last adventure before her return to work after 12 month's maternity leave, I booked a long weekend to Reykjavik. It has been on my bucket list for a long time, and whilst only a 2.5-hour flight from the UK, I just hadn't got around to visiting until now. There is something magical about the country and arriving in the dark at 10am, twinkling lights dotted below, onto a snowy runway added to the mystery of what awaited us. We were very excited! We spent 3 days in Reykjavik with our baby daughter in tow, exploring the pretty lanes of the main town, with boutique gift shops, high end fashion stores and Scandinavian influenced furniture stores, all interspersed with inviting, quirky and cosy bars. Once away from the main shopping streets, we took a leisurely and snowy stroll down to the coast path and to commercial harbour area. Whale watching trips and commercial fishing boats line the harbour along with quaint cafes, restaurants, the Viking museum and the national theatre. The more residential streets of Reykjavik are a real delight, charming pastel coloured chocolate box houses, sit side by side with the touristy city centre, but give you a real taste for what life is like for the locals. We cross into the park, currently a large frozen and snowy lake, with a thermal water source feeding the lake edge, creating just enough fresh water space for the many varieties of ducks and geese to hang out and pose for photos. The imposing Hallgrímskirkja church comes in to view as we meander back to the city centre, standing guard over the city. The church is an unusual concrete structure, with a stepped stone façade, an ode to modernism and a reminder of the often stark, but beautiful Icelandic landscape. As the clock strikes 3, we are reminded it is happy hour and so off to the bar for a well-deserved drink. It's fair to say that Iceland isn't the cheapest destination to visit, so we make the most of the happy hour drinks and amuse ourselves with some of the more unusual menu choices of puffin burgers, whale meat or rams’ testicles. We opt for none of these, maybe we aren't feeling that adventurous after all!