Fun Sunday in Tayto park

Last week was really busy for all of us, so we decided to have a little bit fun at weekend. When I told to my colleagues that for holidays we are planning trip to Germany to attend amusement parks, the fist question was – Have you been in Tayto park? Like my son said – Chips park J And because the answer was – NOOOO...

Tayto park is only more than 1 hour to drive from our home, so it was quite easy to convince our daddy to go.

My brave team! :) 

The first rollercoaster we have tried was The Cú Chulainn Coaster located in Eagle Sky Adventure Zone. This rollercoaster is Ireland’s First rollercoaster and Europe’s largest wooden rollercoaster. The rollercoaster has been named after one of the great eternal heros of Irish history, Cú Chulainn. I can’t remember when the last time I was on the rollercoaster, but it was really long long time ago. For my kids it was the first time. And it was really impressive…and good…and scary… Urtė screamed all the way…After this rollercoaster my kids said that they don’t want to try any other coaster…Definitely, it was not from excitement...

Our next spot was 5D Cinema  (as we hade to get our breath back after the first rollercoaster…) So we had a thrilling journey in Dino Safari – with air gusts, water jets, leg ticklers, lights and bubbles.

After 5D Cinema we decided to immerse ourselves in the Mesozoic era „the age of dinosaurs“. We didn’t finish walk through as Adomas wanted to try Zip Line Extreme – and it was really good. He tried this 3 times :)

                                                  

Zip Line Extreme

As a day started to get warm our next attraction was Viking Voyage in Eagle Sky Adventure Zone.  With 1.7 million litres of water, a Viking village, 5 replica Viking ships and 20 life size Vikings. Even it is a newly opened ride queue was moving quite fast and it didn’t cause any inconvenience for us.

Lunch time

Circus

Urtė insisted to try Steam Train Express. So welcome on a board!

Shot Tower – if you want to be shoot up 10 metres into the sky and watch the ground get smaller until reaching the top and to feel the exhilaration as shooting down to the ground. This attraction was suitable even for me :) 

Mr Tayto’s pony rail was suitable for Urtė – she enjoyed to saddle up and to ride on her very own pony. 

Air jumpers – we waited in queue almost 40 minutes.

Short rest break

Marijus and Adomas went on the Rotator, where everyone will be soared 31 meters in the sky and revolved 360°.  Urtė was too small, and I was not brave enough. Even to watch at them for me was too much... But both my men really enjoyed this attraction.

The Windstar – you can decide how high you’d like to fly. Urtė went on this attraction 2 times – and it says a lot ;) She said that it was be best attraction for her.

The Endeavour – with speeds as fast as 40 km and reaching a height of 68 feet. For Adomas it was one of the best attractions.

The last attraction before nearly before closing park closing time – Extreme Climbing Wall. Both my kids tried this 21 metre climbing wall. Adomas was really good in climbing. Probably he has the inner mountaineer ;) 

And the very very last attraction – to repeat the first rollercoaster The Cú Chulainn Coaster!

We spend all day long in this park, but Zoo, Tayto factory tour and some other attractions were left for next visit. So probably we will come back! Maybe not this year as there are so many places to visit in Ireland ;)

p.s. Adomas was happy finally to get slippers :D As several weeks I struggled to buy suitables. And now – tadadadammm – CHIPS SLIPPERS!!!

The Spy, Paulo Coehlo

The first time about Mata Hari - Margaretha Geertruida Zelle I've heard maybe 20 years ago. For me her life story sounded as an exciting adventure - a Dutch exotic dance and a famous courtesan. She was later accused and arrested for being a double espionage.
„The Spy“ by Paulo Coelho is written based on a true event, but who knows the truth?

***

„My first piece of advice is the hardest, and it has nothing to do with your performance. Never fall in love. Love is a poison. Once you fall in love, you lose control over your life – your heart and mind belong to someone else. Your existence is threatened. You start to do everything to hold on to your loved one and lose all sense of danger. Love, that inexplicable and dangerous thing, sweep everything you are from the face of the earth and in its place, leaves only what your beloved wants you to be.“

***

Everyone flirts with danger, so long as that danger does not really exist.

***

But women are able to understand one another without exchanging a word.--- When we don't know where life is taking us, we are never lost.

***

„The other person can no longer help himself. He becomes distant, he seems distracted during the week, and on Saturdays and Sundays he comes to he Champ de Mars to play ball with his friends. His son enjoys ice cream, and his wife watches as the elegant dresses parade before her, a sad look in her eye. There's no wind strong enough to make the boat change direction; it stays in the harbour, venturing only among still waters. Everyone suffers, those who leave, those who stay, and their families and children. But no one can do anything“.

***
The most beautiful melody in the world will become a monstrosity if the strings are out of tune.
***
I took some money from my pocket and showed him I had enough to return. I also had enough to go, but letting a man help a woman leaves him vulnerable.
***
People say life is not that complicated, but life is very complicated. What's simple is wanting an ice cream, a doll, or to win a game of petanque like those men over there - fathers with responsibilities, sweating and suffering as they try to get a stupid metal ball to hit a little piece of wood. Simple is wanting to be famous, but staying that way for more than a month or a year, especially when that fame is linked to one's body, is what is hard. Simple is wanting a man with all your heart, but that becomes impossible and complicated when that man is married with children and wouldn't leave his family for anything in this world.

Our visit to Folk Museum

Last weekend we visited The Folk Museum, which illustrates the way of life and traditions of the people in Northern Ireland. It’s really amazing place if you want to have great time outdoors and to step back in time.

Folk Museum was created to preserve a rural way of life in danger of disappearing forever due to increasing urbanisation and industrialisation in Northern Ireland.

Homes and shops and cottage industries are faithfully recreated to enter and explore. We had really great time! 

Carpenter's Workshop

Presbytarian Church

Sweet shop

Pharmacy

National School

Kids room

Post Office

Lunch in the Tea Shop was great. 

Hiding from the rain

Adultery, Paulo Coehlo

***

In my life, I‘ve gone straight from self-confidence to confession. I‘m starting to confess things to myself that would be best left unspoken.

For example: the world has stopped.

Not just my world, but the world of everyone around me.

When we meet with friends, we always talk about the same things and the same people. The conversations seem new, but it‘s all just a waste of time and energy. We‘re trying to prove that life is still interesting.

***

After a certain age, we put on a mask of confidence and certainty. In time, that mask gets stuck to our face and we can‘t remove it.

As children, we learn that if we cry we‘ll receive affection, that if we show we‘re sad, we‘ll be consoled. If we can‘t get what we want with a smile, then we can surely do so with our tears.

But we no longer cry, except in the bathroom when no one us listening. Nor do we smile at anyone other than our children. We don‘t show our feelings because people might think we‘re vulnerable and take advantage of us.

Sleep is the best remedy.

***

„Time heals everything, don‘t you think?“

That depends. Time can often make things worse.

***

People might be angry, stressed, or grieving over a broken heart – and in the latter case, they might think they’re depressed and in need of medicines and drugs – but they’re not. They’re just suffering from a broken heart, and there have been broken hearts ever since the world began, ever since man discovered that mysterious thing called Love.

***

Trusting the one you love always brings good results.

***

You don’t choose your life; it chooses you. There’s no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them and carry on.

We can’t choose our lives, but we can decide what to do with the joys or griefs we’re given.

***

It isn’t love (or is it?), but that doesn’t matter. My love belongs to me and I’m free to offer it to whomever I choose, even if it’s unrequited. Of course, it would be great if it were requited, but if not, who cares. I’m going to give up digging this hole, because I know that there’s water down below. Fresh water. 

I‘m pleased by that last thought: I‘m free to love anyone in the world. I can decide who without asking anyone‘s permission.

***

 There is none so blind as the one who does not want to see.

***

To find peace in the heavens, we must find love on Earth.

***

Though the brain says all is well, the soul is lost, confused, doesn‘t know why it is being unfair to life. But we still wake up in the morning and take care of our children, our husband, our lover, our boss, our employees, our students, those dozens of people who make an ordinary day come to life.

And we often have a smile on our face and a word of encouragement, because no one can explain their loneliness to others, especially when we are always in good company. But this loneliness exists and eats away at the best parts of us because we must use all our energy to appear happy, even though we will never be able to deceive ourselves. But we insist, every morning, on showing only the rose that blooms, and keep the thorny stem that just us and makes us bleed hidden within.

Even knowing that everyone, at some point, has felt completely and utterly alone, it is humiliating to say, „I‘m lonely, I need company. I need to kill this monster that everyone thinks is as imaginary as a fairy-tale dragon, but isn't.“ But it isn‘t. I wait for a pure and virtuous knight, in all his glory, to come defeat it and push it into the abyss for good, but that knight never comes.

Yet we cannot lose hope. We start doing things we don‘t usually do, daring to go beyond what is fair and necessary. The thorns inside us will grow larger and more overwhelming, yet we cannot give up halfway. Everyone is looking to see the final outcome, as though life were a huge game of chess. We pretend it doesn‘t matter whether we win or lose, the important thing is to compete.

***

Who hasn‘t felt the urge to drop everything and go in search of their dream? A dream is always risky, for there is a price to pay.

***

Men cheat because it‘s in their genetic code. A woman does it because doesn't have enough dignity; in addition to handing over her body, she always ends up handing over a bit of heart. A true cry. A theft. It‘s worse than robbing a bank, because if one day she is discovered (and she always is), she will cause irreparable damage to her family.

For men it is just a „stupid mistake“. For women, it feel like a spiritual crime against, those who surround her with affection and support her as a mother and wife.

***

I want to fall in love with him again. I never stopped loving him. I‘ve always loved him and always will – but our life together is verging on monotony. Love can withstand this, but for lust, it‘s fatal.

 ***

Can you train yourself to love the right man? Of course you can. The problem is forgetting about the wrong man, the one passing by who came in a door that was left open. Without asking permission.

What exactly did I want from Jacob? I knew from the beginning that our relationship was doomed, although I never imagined it would end in such a humiliating way. Maybe I just wanted what I got: adventure and joy. Or maybe I wanted more – to live with him, to help him grow his career and to give him the support he no longer seemed to get from his wife and the affection he complained be lacked at one of our first meetings. To pluck him from his home, the way you pluck  flower from someone else‘s garden, and plant him on my land, even though I know flowers can‘t survive being treated that way.

***

I should have known I was just one more by the way he took me. Many times I left that damn hotel feeling that way, telling myself I wouldn't see him again – all the while aware that this was just another one of my lies and that if he called, I would always be ready, whenever and wherever he wanted.

Yes, I knew all that. And yet I tried to convince myself I was only looking for sex and some adventure. But it wasn't true. Today I realize that yes, I was in love, despite having denied it on all my sleepless nights and empty days. Madly in love.

***

„Everyone has days when they say: „Well, my life isn‘t exactly lining up with my expectations.“ But if life asked you what you had done for it, what would you say?“

...Nothing happens without effort. You have to have faith. And for that, you have to break down the barriers of prejudice, which requires courage. To have courage, you must conquer you fears. And so on and so forth.. Let‘s make peace with our days. We can‘t forget that life is on our side. It also wants to get better. Let‘s help it out!

***

Dreaming isn’t as simple as it seems. On the contrary, it can be quite dangerous. When we dream, we put powerful engines in motion and can no longer hide the true meaning of our life from ourselves. When we dream, we also make a choice of what price to pay.

Going after a dream has a price. It may mean abandoning our habits, it may make us go through hardships, or it may lead us to disappointment, et cetera. But however costly it may be, it is never as high as the price paid by people who didn't live. Because one day they will look back and hear their ownheart say: „I wasted my life“.

***

People like that woman, always worried about what others think of their marriage. That doesn‘t matter to me. The only thing that counts is what you think.

***

What is really contagious is fear, the constant fear of never finding someone to accompany us to the end of our days. And in the name of this fear we are capable of doing anything including accepting the wrong peson and convincing ourselves that he or she‘s the one, the only one, who God has placed in our path. In very little time the search for security turns into  heartfelt love, and things become less bitter and difficult, our feelings can be put in a box and pushed to the back of the closet in our head, where it will remain forever, hidden and invisible.

***

Wisdom and experience don‘t change the man. Time doesn‘t change the man. The only thing that changes us is love.

May it always be clear that only True Love can compete with any other love in this world. When we give everything, we have nothing more to lose. And the fear, jealousy, boredom, and monotony disappear, and all that remains is the light from avoid that does not frigthen us, but bring us closer to one another. The light that always changes, and that is what makes it beautiful and full of suprises – not always those we hope for, but those we can live with.