Day 4 - Be careful what you wish for...

My wish was for the rain to stop and it did. But then came the fog. Even worse than rain as far as sightseeing goes (I tried to copy and paste from pics from my phone to the blog but I don't think it worked - I could see the pics when I checked the blog on my phone, but not on the iPad.  Crap.).  So, I set a less than ambitious agenda and achieved little of it, but let's start at the very beginning...

I woke to the joyful sound of silence - no raindrops on the roof!  It was even brightening up a bit. So I bounded out of bed before 7, showered, packed, and went on a mini-sightseeing journey around the grounds (lovely) before free breakfast at 8. Breakfast was, again, a buffet with all the juice and coffee I could drink, plus a scrambled egg. The egg came out plain-looking and I thought, oh well, I need the protein.  But it was actually delicious!  Eggs here are so tasty that you don't need to smother them with cheese. I didn't realize how tasteless US eggs are till this morning. We should do something about that.

I headed south, again on the Black Forest Crest Road, with hopes that the clouds and fog would lift to reveal breathtaking views. No such luck. I had also hoped to hike to a couple of waterfalls that are supposed to be great but the head of each trail was so foggy, I thought that journeying into the forest was not a very good idea.  I saw a pretty cool church (cathedral?) in St. Blasien - fog don't mess with God's house!  I lit a 50 euro candle (they have real candles and real fire not like that crummy church back home) and said a little prayer for sun. Actually, I prayed for my parents' continued good health and happiness...I figured God would throw in sun as a bonus because of my selflessness.  :)  Assuming it takes about 5 hours for prayers to make it to heaven and God to act on them, mission accomplished!

I saw several rays of sunshine from my lakeside hotel balcony just before the sun set tonight.  Now, I didn't actually see the sun, but I saw several patches of blue sky and the aforementioned rays. I am very confident that I'll be enjoying a sunny Day 5. I'm staying near Bodensee (Lake Constance) tonight in a fairly nice hotel. I think I'll take my time leaving tomorrow and see some of the lake in the sun. Then I think I'll be headed toward Fussen and some castles. Think sunny thoughts!

Trying pics one more time...if there's a picture below this, it's the view from my balcony.