P-Day Excursion

Dear Family and Friends,

We want to introduce you to some of the lovely people we have met here in Ireland. These two wonderful families are members of the Galway Branch.

This is the Gibbon's family, Michelle, Nathan, Alex and Emily. Michelle works as a teacher's aide at Emily's school. Her sons, Nathan and Alex are our only active young men in the branch. Emily is in my Valiant, Primary class, she will turn 12 in August and go into Young Women's. We love the Gibbon's family, they are great. We knew Michelle's brother Paul and wife Angela when we were in Waterford.

On the right is Sharon and Lisa Isokpan. They are so lovely. Lisa works as a caregiver for the elderly. Sharon, who is 12, is an amazing athlete. She is on a city basketball league. They are moving to England the end of this month, so we are all sad.

Our dear Elder Meyer is going home in a couple of weeks. Because he hasn't had the opportunity to see any sights in Ireland, we promised him a P-Day excursion. 

P-Day Adventure to Cong

Ross Errilly Friary

Today is May 5, the Hales stayed over with us this weekend. On Monday, we took a short drive to the village of Cong(Irish-Cunga) to see Ashford castle and the cottage where The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, was filmed in 1951.

On the way to Cong we happened to see an old monastery off in the distance. We decided we had to stop and investigate. We took a few back roads and finally made our way there.  On the faded sign out front was the name, Ross Errilly Friary of Franciscan monks built in 1351 and added onto in 1498. 

Inside, we found a number of graves and crypts, a half dozen were recent, but most were very old. There was a labyrinth of rooms, stairways and corridors within the crumbling walls of Ross Errilly. We enjoyed our little explore, trying to imagine what life must have been like here centuries ago. As you can see, the Elders are having a grand old time.

A table full of hungry missionaries

We planned on having a picnic lunch in Cong when we arrived, but it was raining so hard we opted for a dry place and ended up at the Hungry Monk’s Café. It was a tasty choice.

                   

Cong is a picturesque village on the banks of the Cong River. Gary is standing at the end of the bridge that spans the river.

The upper left picture is taken inside the fairy forest. Lower left is the monk's fishing hut, it was used during the winter months, there is a trap door in the floor. Upper right is a gatehouse leading to the grounds of Ashford castle. We saw this one lone swan swimming in the river.

After lunch we made our way past the ruins of an old church, across a river bridge, and through a stone archway into an enchanting forest where I half expected to see leprechauns and fairies dancing about. We were amazed to see huge sequoia trees here. We followed the path along to Ashford Castle.

Upper left a statue of John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara, lower left Elder's Crittenden and Meyer on the wall in front of the Ashford castle, Upper right - before you could count to two one Elder Crittendon was up in a tree, Lower right is the cottage where Quiet Man was filmed

Ashford Castle

The initial Castle was built on this site in 1228, by the Anglo-Norman, House of Burke. It was added onto in 1715 and again in 1852. It was completely refurbished in 1970 and turned into a five-star luxury hotel. The oldest part of the castle is on the left. 



This house by the river was so lovely I had to take a picture.





We hope you enjoyed our short tour of Cong.


Love, Elder and Sister Weber, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma