Christmas in Galway

We were so excited to be spending Christmas Eve & Christmas Day in Galway! We had heard so many good things about it; what a lively, colorful town it was. It was lovely, however, no one informed us that EVERYTHING shuts down in Ireland for the Holidays! We stayed in a very nice B & B, but there was nothing open for Christmas dinner & not much open the next day either (St. Stephen's Day in Ireland). Shops, restaurants, gas stations, banks, etc close for days over the holidays. We had a cozy little picnic in our room for Christmas dinner - it was actually fun! We also ran into a lot of ice while there - Ireland has not had ice/snow for 10 years & are very unprepared for it. They don't salt the roads or know how to drive. It made for pretty scenery, but treacherous driving!