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Crown Jewel 5-17 and what to pack
Curious who all will be on the Swiss Crown Jewel trip on May 17, 2023? In addition, would welcome tips on what to pack. We will be in Florence, Italy, for four days before taking train to Milan and then onward to Lousanne. We have our Gift of Time in Lousanne, arriving one day prior to when Tauck trip begins. Any suggestions on what to see there on our own? Particularly interested in clothing for Jungfraujoch.
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We did this one in Sep 2021 and there was definitely differences weather-wise from one location to another. Cold and snow at the top of JungFrau Joch and warm and humid down in Lugano/Northern Italy. So be prepared for a range of weather. You want good walking shoes/sneakers for the hike down from Gornergrat if you take it. It isn't hard and the hotel will supply hiking poles. The Ice Palace tour at JungFrau is literally walking on ice so very slippery and cold. JungFrau was definitely the coldest part of our tour though we were lucky to have a lovely sunny day with little wind even when we went outside on the snow. You don't have to do that. You can stay inside or just walk out onto the view platform. I did wear my boots, knee length trench coat with layers underneath, a scarf, hat and gloves. You might have better or worse conditions.
As for dressy clothing, it was probably the most casual European tour I've taken with Tauck. Per our TD:
As for things to do - I wrote a trip review that should still be in the tour archives. On our extra time we took the tram down to the harbor (free tram passes from the concierge), walked along the lake and visited the Olympics museum. We later took the tram the opposite direction into the old town then walked up to the cathedral for a great view of the city and the lake. Lots of other things to do in Lausanne.
We did this tour in mid- September 2022. We had an incredibly organized, detail oriented tour guide, Petr. His recommendations for clothes were 6 “ smart casual” dinners**. The hotels were fancy, so having some nicer clothes to wear for dinners was absolutely appropriate. For a few of the smart casual dinners ( the tour director termed these “fluffy” ), about 1/3 of the men wore sport coats. Footwear - sneakers with tread are fine for the times on the mountains. Mind you, nothing is going to keep your feet warm in the ice bar on Jungfrau! The temperatures ranged from the 70s ( Lugano and Lake Como) to the 30’s on Jungfrau. The day we were on Jungfrau there was a snowstorm up there with white out conditions ( yes, in September). It added to the experience and was fun. This was a great trip. The scenery was spectacular, and the hotels wonderful. A few of our rooms were really stand outs (large suites with terraces).One was lacking ( parking lot view in St. Moritz). The trains are really fun! Every day was sunny and gorgeous , except for Jungfrau and the snowstorm was fun.
Walking around the displays in the ice palace wasn't too bad but the standing in the private ice room eating snacks is where I got cold. Thankfully our TD bought us all hot chocolate before heading back down the mountain.
MotherOfPoodles - the parking lot view in St Moritz was better than the backside of the grocery store parking garage we had in Lucerne. But you're right, most of the rooms on this tour were some of the best we've had. Views of the lakes in Lausanne and Lugano, view of the Matterhorn in Zermatt. Our room in St Moritz was large with a nice seating area but the windows were high enough and small enough you had to stand at them to see a view plus it was rainy that day so we couldn't see much. Interlaken was a nice room but not much view. Lots of other scenery to look at in Switzerland so I don't think it's a deal breaker for sure.
I'm beginning to think I won't buy nor pack special shoes for JungFrau. It's only a small portion of the trip, and I need space in luggage for other items. Tell me if I'm on track. I'd prefer to pack a flask of liquid heat instead of worrying about heavy shoes. But shoes need good tread, correct?
When we were there we wore sneakers and were fine. We were there in August and it snowed, so we did not go into the snow. Otherwise the sneakers were sufficient.
I brought lightweight hiking boots and regretted them for the hike down Gornergrat because it's rocky and the top of the boot kept digging into my ankle. They were handy at JungFrau only when we went outside on the snow. See the photo below and note where people are coming out of the building and up the slope. It was a short uphill climb from the door in slushy snow so the boots were handy. But you don't absolutely need them and don't have to go out on the snow. One pair of sneakers with good traction and one pair of dress flats would be just fine.
Sneakers with good traction and a good pair of wool socks is all you’ll need. Gloves, scarf and a hat too. The goal is not to overpack!
This was one of my favorite land tours with Tauck. Here I am attending a reception at the Jungfraujoch Ice Palace. It was very cold so you can see how I am dressed. Wonderful experience!
Noreen - It looks like you had so much to drink you couldn't stand up straight! Just kidding, I wish Tauck made it easy to fix the orientation of photos.
Smiling Sam - Remember I am Irish and I never touch the stuff - it was actually glacier melt water and if you believe that I have ocean property next door in Tucson.
I've asked several times, most recently last week when Jared Zech, Director of Digital Products said they were going to take a look at several software upgrades and solutions to various issues on the forums. Hopefully photo orientation is one of them. It may not be as easy and there may be some software issues, like with security, but I know it is possible. When I uploaded my photo to the Versailles website when I applied for an annual pass, I was concerned about sizing, etc. but their software provided the ability to center and size my image before final upload. (Unfortunately their software couldn't make me look 30 years younger!
)
In the meantime, ios (Apple) users just need to remember to hold their phones sideways with the bottom/on button to the right.
I made a posting in a separate thread on my method of correcting a horizontal photo on an iPhone. A link is below if interested.
Correcting a horizontal photo on an iPhone for forum posting