I finally broke out of the city of Zürich. Actually both Rapperswil and Baden are outside of the Canton of Zürich as well.

Rapperswil is at the south end of the lake, at the narrow separation between Zürichsee and Obersee.

Rapperswil is known as the “City of Roses” (just like Portland!) though the rose gardens aren’t much to look at in this season. There’s one specifically design for the blind, with signs posted in Braille.

There’s a Capuchin Monastery and of course a big castle on a hill.

The Rapperswil City museum is only a few years old. It has a modern central building connected to a historic building on either side for various exhibit rooms. They have part of one arranged like an actual historic residence.

I walked across the reconstructed wooden footbridge to the village of Hurden. The very first footbridge here dates back to 1600 BC. There’s a tiny chapel on the island partway across.

The Stein Castle in Baden was clearly left to ruin becasue people were tired of climbing all the stairs to fix it.

The City Tower is in good shape, though.

The old city also has a cover bridge still in use.

Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part I couldn’t get to some of the things on my list for Baden, like the historical museum, because a lot of things are closed on Mondays.