Our Last day in Ireland

On our last day in Ireland we didn't have much planned. Garrett wanted to drive up north to Belfast and try to find some of his Irish ancestors. He had done some research before we left Oregon and knew that his ancestors were from around Belfast, more specifically the town of Comber. It took us awhile to drive up there and to finally find the town. We found a church and Garrett got out to look around, but didn't find what he was looking for. Then he found another church and asked some people who were there if they knew where we could look and they pointed us to the town cemetary. We drove there and we all got out and started looking. I think we spent about an hour there searching the gravestones. We did find some McKibbens, but they had lived and died more recently and the people we were looking for were from the 1700's. It was pretty interesting walking around a cemetary. I've never really done that before. It was cool reading when they lived and the different inscriptions that were written. But, we didn't really find anything there.

I think we looked at one more cemetary and then were ready to start driving back to Dublin when Garrett saw a church steeple and thought he should look there. So, with this as our last stop we got out and started looking again. Within about 10 minutes, Garrett said that he had found one and sure enough, it was the person he was looking for. His name was John McKibben and he died in 1758 and was 48 years old. On the same headstone we found out who his wife was (Elizabeth Orr; died 10 days after her husband; also 48 years old). Next to that one we found a William McKibben from 1851 (60 years) (not sure how they are related) and then across from the first one was another John McKibben (spelled McKebin) who died in 1715 (62 yrs. old) along with his wife, Isabella who died in 1741 (age 72). Garrett was so excited to find these family names. He told us that he had been praying all day for direction and guidance to know where to go and look. What a testimony builder to know that Heavenly Father does hear our prayers and is there to help us out. As Garrett wrote down all the information from the headstones, Maggie and I searched the rest of the cemetary for any other McKibbens and sure enough at the very end, we found two more. Another John McKibben who died 1886 at the age of 38 and also on that same stone were his children, but not his wife. His kids were: Willie died 1882; William died 1884; Joseph died 1886; Hugh died 1887 and Agnes who died in 1898 (17 years). I'm not sure how old they all were when they died. I was thinking they died as infants since it happened about every two years. Makes you really want to research their story. Anyways...we were really happy that we had found all that information. The church there was being added on to...which explains all the debris. (in the pictures) I can't believe how close they were putting the church to the grave sites!

Church of Ireland Parish
We think the church was built in 1774.
Church of Ireland Parish
The Cemetary
The McKibben plots
Garrett and his ancestors
The new addition to the church right next to the McKibben plots.
John McKibben; d. 1758
William McKibben; d. 1851
John McKebin; d. 1715

John McKibben and his kids
The last McKibben grave site. I can't remember who is on this one.
Looking out from the church to the end of the cemetary.
Looking up towards the church.
Bella, after her snack.
Beautiful Irish countryside on a beautiful day...driving back to Dublin.




We had to hurry and rush back to Dublin because when we first got to Ireland we bought tickets to Riverdance on our last night. What better place to see Riverdance than in Ireland!!! We left Comber a little after 5 pm and the show was starting at 8pm. So we drove like crazy and got a little lost in downtown Dublin trying to find the theater. We finally found it, but were 15 minutes late. So we missed the first little bit. Garrett dropped us off so we could go in and get our seats while he found some place to park. By the time he got in, we were still waiting for a break in the dances to get up to our seats. So when he got there he took the girls to their seats, and I had to go and change Bella who had a big blowout--Yuck--so I missed a little more. I have to say how glad I was that we were able to go and see it. It was absolutely fabulous. What talented people! It was such a great show--the music was amazing. They had a woman playing the fiddle, one playing a flute/saxophone, one playing a guitar and a guy doing all the percussion. He was my favorite. They all had a chance to perform solos and the percussionist played a really neat little drum-- I think it was called a bodhran --I'm sure it was native to Ireland, but it was so cool!! They had quite a variety of dances as well. They had songs and dances about nature--the sun, the river, thunderstorms, etc. Then songs and dances about Irish farmers, Irish people emmigrating to America, other peoples and cultures becoming part of Ireland, etc. They had guest performers from Spain, Russia, the US and Great Britain. The Spanish lady did a couple of flamenco dances, the Russian dancers did a really cool one with some amazing "stunts" and dance moves and my favorite one was two American guys doing some pretty cool tap dancing and then the riverdance guys would come out and show off some of their steps and they would go back and forth having a "dance war". It was pretty funny when the tappers broke out into riverdance moves. It was very entertaining. If any of you have a chance to see a show of theirs, I would highly recommend it. It was a great night of entertainment.
This is inside the beautiful theatre.
Us during the intermission.

After such a late night and not getting home til about 10 and then not getting to bed till around 11 or so, we had to wake up at 4 am to get to the airport to make our 6:30 flight. Garrett dropped me and the girls off with the luggage to go get in line to check in while he dropped off the rental car. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes the guy at the desk said that he was about to close the flight and said we were the last people allowed to check in. When I told him that my husband would be back in 5 minutes, he told me that I could check in now and me and the girls get on the flight without him or none of us get on the flight. (We still had 30 minutes before our flight left, by the way). I tried to tell him that he'd be right back, but he wasn't budging. So we waited for Garrett, who came 5 minutes later and missed our flight. So we had to go buy 5 more tickets @ 75 euros each which is double what we paid for our tickets in the first place. As if that wasn't bad enough, there weren't any more flights open to Bristol that day. So we got a flight to Birmingham, but that wasn't until 12pm and here it was 6 am. We couldn't check in until 9 am. We were all exhausted and had to wait in the airport for half the day. Then we had to get another rental car in Birmingham to drive to Bristol to pick up our other "official" rental car. The drive from Birmingham to Bristol was two hours. Then from Bristol to Cirencester (where our house was) was another hour. So, we didn't back home again until like 7 or 8 that night. What a day!!! All because we were 5 minutes late in getting to the Dublin airport. Ugh!! But, we made it and all was well.

Church, Jail and the Count of Monte Cristo

I have two more days of our Ireland trip to write about (counting this post--so one more after this one) and then I'm officially done with our trip. Except, I might post one more to write about a few odds and ends. Plus I still need to blog about the kids' first day of school. I will get there...eventually!

So, this post is day 3 in Ireland. Since it was a Sunday and since we hadn't experienced church in England yet, I thought it would be a good idea and go to sacrament meeting in Ireland. Garrett found a few wards around Dublin and we picked the one we thought was closest. So, after a quick Irish breakfast we drove around trying to find the church building and got a little lost. When we finally found it, we were about 15 minutes late. We felt really bad about walking in during the talks, so we waited in the foyer until the current speaker was finished. I was excited to hear the Irish accents. We heard some, but the main speakers were the missionaries--one was American and the other was English. Oh well. It was good to get back to church, if only for a short time. Lots of people came up to us after and asked us if we were new. Their ward was so tiny, I'm sure they were hoping for a new big family. We sang for the closing hymn, "We Thank thee O God for a Prophet" and at the end, Lydia said to me, "We sing that song at OUR church!" It was cute. I explained that our church is the same no matter where we go. It is pretty neat to know that the church is the same throughout the world!

After, we decided to go see a jail called Kilmainham Gaol (jail). This was something that Garrett really wanted to go see. It was opened in 1796 as the Dublin County Jain and a debtor's prison. Realistically, it was used as a political prison. Many of those who fought for Irish independence were held or exectued here, including leaders of the rebellions of 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and The Easter Rebellion of 1916. It was a guided tour and most of it was pretty interesting. Trying to keep up with who was with what rebellion was kind of confusing--but it was really kind of depressing. They talked about 7-8 men who were kept there for fighting for Ireland's independence, only to end up executed. One man, and I can't remember his name, was brought into the prison's chapel on the night before he was executed so that he could marry his fiancee. They were only allowed 10 minutes together, supervised of course, and then taken back to his cell and then executed the next day. His new bride must have been fighting for Ireland's independence as well, because in a different part of the jail, they showed us her cell. I don't think she was executed, though. The jail closed in the 1920's. The guide also told us that the youngest prisoner they had there was a five year old! He and his family were caught riding a bus or train (can't remember which) without a ticket, so they were all thrown in jail. Awful, isn't it? In this jail, there was no segregation of prisoners; men, women and children were incarcerated up to 5 in each cell, with only a single candle for light and heat, and most of their time was spent in the cold and the dark. Sounds pretty miserable.

Tad, I just read on the internet that U2 filmed a video here for a song called Celebration. Have you heard of that song? It's supposed to be one of their earlier songs. It was filmed there in 1982. They also filmed part of the movie, "In the Name of the Father" here with Daniel Day-Lewis. Never saw it because it was R, but still interesting to know.

Garrett in front of the jail.

Inside one of the hallways in the jail.

One of the cell doors. We couldn't get a picture inside, but there wasn't much to look at.

I can't think of what they call this room. I'm not sure if it even has a name. It was just a big open room with jail cells on each of the three levels.

One of the hallways.

Door to the outside exercise yard.

To the left of the door was where they had the executions.

Me, trying to keep Bella quiet so that the rest of the people could hear the tour guide.

The Irish flag flying at the prison. It was not until the Easter Rising of 1916, when it was raised above the General Post Office in Dublin, that the tricolour came to be regarded as the national flag.

After we left the jail, Maggie was quite depressed. She did not like being in the jail at all and hearing about all the executions. Poor kid--not a very fun place for kids. So, we decided to go see a place called Powerscourt Gardens--a little bit more cheery. If any of you have seen the movie "The Count of Monte Cristo" with James Caviezel then you've seen this place. (Can you tell that I really like movies?) Right after Edmond becomes the count, he invites everyone to his place in Paris (but really Ireland) so he can see Fernand and Mercedes and start his revenge. It was quite cool to be in a place that you've seen in a movie. And the house, but especially the gardens were breathtaking. So beautiful--and such a big piece of land. There were separate gardens inside the garden. Pictures don't do it justice at all!

This is a picture of the house. Remember, from the movie how the Count flies in his hot air balloon right over the house and lands right in front?

This is a view looking down to the gardens from the side of the house.

This is down a few flights of steps from the house. I think this is where the Count gets out of the hot air balloon, leans over the railing and says, "Greetings." The design in the floor is really neat--all made from little stones.

4 Beauties

Looking up at the house.

Lots of stairs.
At the bottom of all the stairs is this beautiful pond full of lily pads. The girls loved the pegasus statue.
Garrett and I


Lydia is so much like me. I could not take a decent picture when I was younger because my eyes were always watering whether it was bright or not. (It was bright here.)

Beautiful flowers. These were my favorite.

The McKibbens (Bella was sleeping, of course)

After leaving here, we went to the little town that this house was close to and had a yummy Italian dinner.

This was the restaurant: Emilia's

These are pictures of the town.

And a telephone booth. Kind of cute. :)