Rapperswil, the City of Roses

Rapperswil is a small city located at what the tourist brochure calls the 'Riviera' end of the Zurichsee. It has a picturesque castle on a hill, a beautifully preserved 'old town' and a reputation as the 'city of roses'.

We travelled there by commuter train and spent an hour or so wandering around the 'old town' area, climbing up to the castle and St Johann's Catholic church, exploring the rose gardens around the Capuchin monastery and enjoying the views across the lake. We also followed a path and a long wooden foot bridge on a very pleasant hour's walk around the lake's edge towards the nearest town.

Curti House

Roses in the monastery garden

Some of the exercise equipment on the lakeside path

The Rapperswil museums and the castle have rather limited opening hours so none were open while we were there except the Circus Museum. We were told that there was nothing in English there by a lovely girl at the Tourist Information Centre but she offered to let us in for free because of that. We understood enough to enjoy the photos of eight generations of a circus family, the Knies, which dated back to 1784, and the display of some of their costumes.

We took the lunch boat back to Zurich and enjoyed our lunch as we called in at various small towns on the way. I had veal with mushrooms 'cooked in the Zurich style' with rosti and Ian had curried chicken and rice, garnished with fruit. There was time for dessert as well so Ian had creme caramel and I had a cherry cake laced with kirsch.

Once back in Zurich we did a bit of shopping, including chocolates from the famous Swiss chocolatier, Sprungli - you can't possibly come to Switzerland without buying chocolate, can you?! - and we have had a quiet afternoon catching up on things like balancing the accounts and listing photos - the sort of things accountants and secretaries get anxious about if left undone.