Travel diary Scotland day 16, 2016: "Control your emotions" - Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 **Disclaimer: I write and upload the same day, often after a long and exhausting day. I often don't have the focus to re read and take out the typos, grammatical and vocabulary errors. Beware!**

Halloooooo!!!

That last day is always bitter sweet. Well, not really sweet in my case. Mostly bitter.

Harry Potter's brith place
After I checked out of my guest house, I was waiting for the bus to take me to the station so I could drop off all my stuff at the left luggage area. By chance, Jen, the guide on the Dark Side tour that I did yesterday evening was waiting on the same bus stop.

Rather than make things awkward, we had a nice little chat about what I could do during my remaining hours in Edinburgh. I had already formed some sort of plan in my head, but surprisingly her suggestions came pretty close.

After she and two other strangers on the bus advised me which stop I could get off, I dropped off my bag so I had more freedom to walk around town.

When I left the train station, I realised how many people I recognised. People from the tours I did yesterday, the guides, people who were staying in the same guest house, etc etc. Even a guy I recognised from the Bella Italia I had dinner at last night. It is definitely a much smaller city than London.

Anyway, as for the morning, I decided to do the exact same thing I did last year: have a coffee and a piece of cake at the Elephant House. The place where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books. Last year's post: Travel diary Scotland day 9, 2015: Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer

I started listening to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone on my way from Alloway to Rosslyn Chapel and then Edinburgh. I didn't walk around all the time with my iPod in, but honestly, the moments I did were amazing. It made me experience the story in yet another way. Bu the time I arrived at the Elephant House I was already on book two.

National Museum of Scotland... Nah, rather Pride!
After my little (3hour) coffee break, I decided to head to the National Museum of Scotland. I wanted to visit it last year but couldn't unfortunately make it, so yeah, this year ;)

However, like most free musea, the place was massive and I was carrying my backpack with laptop, my beautiful Canon camera and some presents in a bag. The weather outside was agreable to my outfit, but inside it was too hot. With carrying all that stuff and the fact that I had to leave Scotland in less than 3 hours, made it impossible for me to actually enjoy the museum. So I left after about 45mins. The entrance hall is breathtaking though.

Because I left the museum a lot earlier than I had intended to, I had a lot of time on my hands all of the sudden. What better way to spend than sit on a stone on the Royal Mile? I had done it so often these past few days.

I knew the Pride was going to happen in the afternoon, I just wasn't sure at what time it would start. I arrived around 2pm on the High Street and it was clear that the party was in full swing. I made it but further down the Royal Mile so there were less people I could bump into with my backpack and I had the sun on my face. By the time I had found a nice spot to spectate, the Pride was moving down towards Holyrood Palace.

It was such a wonderful thing the behold. I had never seen a Pride, but the joy, love and message of 'it doesn't matter who you are, what you are, you're still a human being and you deserve to be loved' is a beautiful one. So much bad things are happening in the world, so it was really cool to actually see so much positivity gathered in one place.

After the Pride had passed I found myself a little seat on the Royal Mile and enjoyed the sun on my face (when the clouds weren't blocking it). The remaning 20minutes flew by and before I knew it, I had to drag myself towards the train station.

Bought some dinner at the M&S, picked up my bag and boarded the train immediately. The journey went very smooth, besides the fact that I had dificulties controlling my emotions. So that is why I saw two films, The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Cinderella. I fell asleep during Narnia so the girl next to me had to wake me up when our tickets were checked x)

By 8pm I was back where it all began 2 weeks ealier: London King's Cross. Two busses later and I was back home.

I can't believe those two weeks are gone now. Time flew by when I needed it to slow down the most. It was another great experience and I have learned so much again. I'm already thinking about my next trip. Ireland? Iceland? Sweden? Who knows ;)

I hope you've enjoyed my travel diary through Scotland and that it may give you the urge to travel too! To Scotland or anywhere else in the world!

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara