The night wind pushes us along quiet streets past an outdoor sculpture garden, a church with a steeple shaped like a rocket and a statue of Leif Eriksson at the entrance.
Heads down to block the cold, we look up long enough to glance at shop windows stocked with boiled wool caps and knit sweaters.
Our destination is Vegamot, a busy Reykjavik bar and restaurant where a woman in a fur-lined parka recommends the salmon with Asian noodles and the Christmas beer.
"We measure the cold, not by the temperature, but by the wind," she tells us.
This was my first impression of Iceland when Tom and I visited there for the first time last year, on the way back from Paris. Seth Kugel's piece on Iceland in winter in the New York Times last Sunday reminded me that coziness is one of this tiny country's biggest draws.
Yes, it's dark, and cold, this time of year, but as Kugel points out, it's also much more affordable. So if you're heading to Europe soon, take a look at Iceland Air's fares, and think about a stopover on the way to or from your destination. It doesn't get much cozier than this.
Read more in a story I wrote for the Seattle Times about what there is to do and see, and how to put together a plan for a two or three-day stopover.
