FAMILY EVENTS & TRAVEL PICTURES

 
05/19/2018
 

 

       

      Pictures of Traveling with Don & Mary Sondergeld   (See On The Go for each year for more details

      We have 225 photo albums from 1960 thru 2003.  Here is an index.

      1971 Wood's Causeway Motel in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard (Amy & Karla, Karen & Amy & KarlaFamily

      1972 thru Williamsburg, Virginia  to  Cape Hatteras North Carolina, 

      1973 with Don's parents at Lake Keuka, one of the Finger Lakes in New York.

      1979 Canadian Rockies with David in Banff, Lake Louise in June  Canadian Rockies Pictures 

      1984 England & Wales (Don Mary Karla & Eric)  Some pictures of England and Wales

     

      1984 Karen & Duncan Wedding  August 18, 1984

                Event locations          Rehearsal Dinner       Pre Wedding afternoon  festivities            Wedding

      

       1985 Abbey Life in Bournemouth England, Rannaus in Marburg, and First Meeting Sondergeld Family in                     Unterhaun on September 10, 1985  See these pictures

       1986 Don in England & Germany in February  See England & Germany 1986

       1987 Sussex England with Amy and  Michelle  Late May 1987  Don met Amy and Michelle for a three day

                weekend in Sussex and Kent. See Sussex & Kent England in May 1987

       1987 Europe:  Don Mary Amy Karla & Megan Donahue June 25 - July 20   Europe 1987    Megan turned 18

      1988 Eric & Cindy Wedding in July     Eric's Wedding

      1989 Amy & Lou Wedding in June        Amy's Wedding

      1990 Sophie Sondergeld & Heinrich Schott  from Hesse, Germany visit USA  Late June to late July 

                 See  1990 Invasion from Hesse     

      1990 Don is 60 in Upper Montclair N J in November         See 60th Celebration

      1991 Society of Actuaries  Meeting in Toronto in November - Don is now President  Mary with Colin Powell

      1991 Later in November we visited the Cooleys in England & attended the biennial meeting of the Institute    

                of Actuaries held at Grosvenor House in London.  

                See Slide Show        Don with British Actuaries         British Actuary Paul Seymour

 

      1991 We then took the jet foil from Dover to Bruges in November 1991 and visited an international actuarial   

                 organization in Brussels.. Andre Lamens, its president and his wife, hosted a dinner at The Swan, a fantastic

                 restaurant in the old city. As we were in Europe we went on our own to Paris, Chartres, Versailles,

                 Fontainebleau and Loire Valley See Slide Show

 

      1992 Asia 

                Tokyo, Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali) and Hong Kong   

                Don at Nankai University       Mary in Beijing 

                China (Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai), and Hong Kong        Taiwan.   

      1992 Mexico In Mexico City with Barry Watson, Mo Chambers, and Pablo Noriega.    

      1992 Don and Mary's 35th Wedding Anniversary in Hubbardton in August     See pictures

.     1992 Annual Meeting of Society of Actuaries in Chicago     

                 Don with SoA President's Medal of Office

                 Don and Mary in Chicago     Don's Presidential Address

      1993 David & Shelley Wedding at Blacksmith Tavern in Glastonbury, CT  in February    See pictures

      1994 Australia & New Zealand  February 14 thru March 22

    

                 Queensland pics.                   Beautiful Sydney                    Through the Snowy mountains to Melbourne  

                 Don and Mary in Kuranda                                                      Neville and Joy Sondergeld in Toowoomba  

                                                    

                                                               New Zealand           Map    Auckland  

      1994 Joy and Neville Sondergeld from Queensland, Australia visited  USA in July   Australian Invasion pictures.

      1994  Herlinde, Hermann, & Alexander Eimer-Sondergeld from Kassel, Germany visited USA

                 See Kassel Invasion August 1994

      1995 Colorado Skiing at Steamboat Springs  with Steve & Sandy Earl     Feb 27 thru March 5

      1995 Utah Skiing at Alta with Walt & Millie Rugland     March 6 thu March 12   Don and Mary in Alta, Utah

      1995 California with David and Skiing at Tahoe     March 13 thru March 20

      1996 Great Abaco Island in Bahamas with John & Connie Towne in April  

                One    Two    Three    Four    Five    Six   Seven

      1996 Alaska   With Bev & Jack Grald and Stan & Harriet Joseph    June 21 thru July 12

                 See http://parks.mapquest.com/national-parks/katmai-national-park-and-preserve/Anchorage & Brooks Lodge   

                 Fairbanks & Denali    Kenai Peninsula    Glacier Bay & Juneau

      1996 Karla's Wedding at Lilac Inn in Brandon Vermont on July 20      Many pictures.    Dancing      With Siblings

      1997 Germany Austria & Cortina, Italy: Steve & Sandy Earl and Peter Sondergeld  February 26 thru March 24    

                 A slide show of the pictures.                Peter Sondergeld in Italian Alps

                Sophie Sondergeld and Heinrich Schott in Oberhaun Germany  

      1998 Scandinavia & Russia  June 11 thru June 30

                    SLIDE SHOW OF DENMARK       SLIDE SHOW OF NORWAY.  SLIDE SHOW OF SWEDEN.    

                    SLIDE SHOW OF FINLAND.         SLIDE SHOW OF RUSSIA          

                    Moscow     Don in Moscow             SLIDE SHOW OF ROME ITALY.

      1999 Meribel & Provence  March 4 thru March 26          Below,  we are in Aix

  

                             Mary in the Alps                                   Mary the Gourmand                                                            

                                         SLIDE SHOW OF MERIBEL            SLIDE SHOW OF PROVENCE.

      1999 Africa (Kenya & Tanzania)   June 4 thru 20       African Dancers        Don and Mary at a Watering Hole

      1999 Peter, Gregor, Lucas Sondergeld & Mike Wallner from Munich visit USA in August    

                Here are some pics of the Bavarian Invasion.   Details are in On The Go

      2000 Equador Galapagos & Peru     April 28 thru May 18

                 

                  Equador and the Amazon         Galapagos Islands and its uniqueness       

                 Peru and beautiful Cusco and Machu Picchu.

      2000 Don Celebrates 70th Birthday in Naples Florida in November         See 70th Celebration

      2001 France Spain & Portugal   March 8 thru March 28

                 A great three weeks.    SEE A SLIDE SHOW

                 France  Skied Val d Isere went to Paris then to northern Spain and then to the "Algarve" in southern Portugal.   

                 Spain (Basque area along the Bay of Biscay)

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Hondarribia Dining    Hondarribia View    Guggenheim  Guernica Picture

                          Portugal The Algarve from Arabic al-Gharb "the West"

                                           The western part of the southern area of the Iberian Penninsula                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                

                 Dolly Schlingensiepen's Casa Tres Palmeiras in Portimao.http://casatrespalmeiras.com/gallery

                 Don's Sweet Tooth   Mary and Dolly    Beach below Dolly's    Sailing in Portugal    Land's End in Portugal 

                 Vila Joya   http://www.vilajoya.com/  in Albufeira

       2002 45th Wedding Anniversary at CC in Middlebury  VT  in August       45th Wedding Anniversary Picture

       2003 Victoria BC      June 21 thru July 3

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Tigh Na Mara  Empress Hotel  Don and Mary in BC     Bald Eagle     Black Bear   

                                     Wickaninnish Inn     Orcas

      2004  Ireland with Stan & Harriet Joseph        May 4 thru May 14

                 Album 1   Album 2   Album 3    Molly Malone       Guinness         Blarney Castle       

                 Cashel House     Cashel House         Bedroom        Irish Coast       Cliffs of Moher             

                  Fjord       Ashford Castle     

 

       2004  Mary's 70th birthday  Party held on June 26 at the lake under a 30x30 foot tent, with a caterer & a DJ.      

       PICTURE FILE,   Family   Extended Family   Grandchildren  Tent  Singers    Karen & Don   Cake                

       Dancers:  Don & Mary   David & Eric   David & Karla  David & Shelley   Connie & Owen  

       Izzumi,      Kevin, & Mia      Karen

       Cindy Harriet     Nuts on the Float  Allison Chris & Simon   David & Amy   Aleksey & Zach    Eric Cindy & Alexei         

       Don & Izzumi    Beebe Pond  Lake House

      2005 Italy  (Sicily then Sorrento area)   May 5 thru May 21

                  Palermo  Agrigento  Siracusa   Taormina   Maratea  Sorrento  Mount Vesuvius 

                  Positano  Pompeii   Herculaneum   hip    Capri    Blue Grotto.

                  1 Palermo   2 Erice   3 Agrigento   4 Siracusa   5 Mazzaro & Taorimina       6 Marratea  

                  7 Sorrento  8 Amalfi Coast  9 Pompei & Vesuvius  10 Capri  11 Herculaneum     12 Naples 

                  13 More Sorrento     14 Near Rome Airport

      2006 Dominica & Guadeloupe February 16-24 (Mary & Brita Tate Slide Show    Carnival      Staff at Papillote.

Image result for map of dominica & guadeloupe

      2006 Iceland     May 30thru June 8

                   Jonis Runolfsson and tour guide Margret Einarsdottir.     Caroline   Foss (waterfall)

                   on the moon,  by  the ocean,  by the sea,  seeing mountains, at another waterfall

                   in a glacial lagoon,  another waterfall,  more mountains  lava   hiking    Viking  Gullfoss  geysir 

                   whale watching boat sheep   sod house     eider duck  other ducks      Icelandic Horse     Blue Lagoon.

                   Day 1   Day 2   Day 3   Day 4   Day 5   Day 6   Day 7   Day 8   Day 9                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2007 Danube with Jack & Bev Grald    June 14 thru June 29

Eastern Europe  We traveled the last two weeks on a Grand Circle Tour of Eastern Europe with our friends Bev and Jack Grald.  We enjoyed three days in beautiful  Prague in the Czech Republic followed by a bus trip to Bratislava in Slovakia for lunch and on to Budapest in Hungary for 2 days.  We then boarded the M/S Aria a wonderful river boat (410 feet long and 38 feet wide) that carried 129 of us on the Danube.  We sailed at nite and went on guided sightseeing trips in cities along the way: Vukovar in Croatia, Belgrade in Serbia, Veliko Tarnova and Arbanassi in Bulgaria (where we saw fields of sunflowers), and thru a canal to Constanta, Romania's chief port on the Black Sea, where Mary and Bev went swimming.  Although some are  EU countries, none of them use the Euro.  We had to use local currency in all of them, although US dollars were OK in a few.                                                                                            

COUNTRY

Capital

Population in millions

Bulgaria

Sofia

3.5

Croatia

Zagreb

3.1

Czech Republic

Prague

2.8

Hungary

Budapest

10.1

Romania

Buchrest

21.7

Serbia

Belgrade

7.5

Slovakia

Bratislava

5.2

 

 

53.9

A Chi Omega on our tour was  Marilyn Jackson Shuler, Mary's sorority sister who also lived in the Chi Omega house in Ann Arbor.  Although we traveled with Bev and Jack Grald, six of us usually dined together.  Our new friends are Bob and Jeanne Levan from 79th Street in Manhattan.

Prague   We saw many beautiful buildings but also visited the old Jewish cemetery downtown and the new Jewish cemetery next to our hotel. By the sixteenth century, Prague was the center of Jewish life in Europe.  The oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe was founded in Prague in 1478. The lack of space forced people to bury the dead on top of each other. It is amazing to imagine how it was possible to bury over 100.000 people in such a small space, but there are 12 layers of tombs. The most prominent person buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery is the great religious scholar and teacher Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as Rabbi Loew (1520-1609), who is associated with the legend of the Golem. In the abutting Pinkas synagogue, the walls are painted with over 80,000 names of the Jews that were deported from Prague and killed in WW2.  We also visited the new cemetery and saw the grave of the writer  Franz Kafka (1883-1924).

Budapest, Hungary  was lovely with Buda on one side of the Danube and Pest on the other. Budapest is the capitol of Hungary.   Mary especially enjoyed the dining in Pest.  A luncheon picture in Budapest.

Vukovar, Croatia  Historically the boundary between countries, has seen many wars.  Recently, in the war resulting from Croatia declaring  independence, Vukovar fell to the Serbs in November 1991 after a three-month siege and the Vukovar massacre took place.  Survivors were transported to prison camps. The town of Vukovar was almost completely destroyed. A monument is there depicting  the rebuilding of Vukovar from this tragedy as well as a newer monument of 6 candles in commemoration of the 6 million Jews who died in the World War 2 holocaust.

Belgrade Serbia  this large city is the capital of Serbia

Veliko Tarnova, Bulgaria  A historical city, at one time the capital.

Bucharest, Romania The most beautiful part of the Danube was thru a section called the Iron Gates with high cliffs on both sides of the river, which was the only day we did not go ashore. there the river flows between Romania and Serbia  From Constanta we took a 4.5 hour train ride about 150 miles to Bucharest, Romania for our last two nights before flying back to Boston.  A very educational trip.  We did not really appreciate fully the war torn history of these small countries, each about the size of one of our states, and the horrible life under communism, which ended not too long ago. 

The Canal from Constanta on the Black Sea to the Danube is about 40 miles long and saves about 300 miles of travel on the Danube.  It was notorious as the site of labor camps in 1950s in  Communist Romania, when, at any given time, several tens of thousands of political prisoners worked on its excavation. The total number of people used as a workforce for the entire period is unknown, as is the number of people who were killed in the process. Work was completed in 1984-1987, more than three decades after camps were disestablished. Someone said the canal was the only good end result under communism. Here we are at dinner on board the M/S Aria.

2007 Danube Photo Albums:  Prague   Slovakia to Hungary   Budapest   Croatia   Belgrade   Iron Gates 1   Iron Gates 2   Bulgaria   Black Sea Canal   Train to Bucharest Bucharest    Bucharest to Boston              

        2007 50th Wedding Anniversary Friday August 3, 2007

We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with dinner     and dancing at the Mountain Top Inn in Chittenden, Vermont.  Don's brother Ralph from Sandusky, Ohio flew in the    previous day for the festivities.  There were 70 family and friends that attended.  (See West Hartford News.) Situated on an 850 acre reservoir, named after Thomas Chittenden the first Governor of the Republic of Vermont and subsequently the State of Vermont.  Those that spent the night took boat rides on the reservoir and could see the trails on Pico, where our family had skied for many years.  Here is a group picture of our family.  The head table contained  most of our wedding party: Don and Mary, Don's brother and  best man Ralph, ushers John (and Connie) Towne, Bob (and Lee) Goode  and Bob (and Mary Lou) Vose with Ann Smith (Dave McDonald's daughter).  Dave  McDonald  one of Don's best friends and associate from The Hartford and daughter Ann also sat at  the head table. Our family gave us a lovely picture of Beebe Pond taken from Eagle Rock, 700 feet above the lake.  Each of the many little squares in this unique picture contains different pictures of our family.

Wedding Anniversary Photo Albums:   Album 1   Album 2   Album 3   Album 4   Album 5

        2007 John & Connie's 40th Wedding Anniversary at Muscongus Bay in Bremen, Maine   September 9 

         Their  new home on Muscongus Bay.  Dinner and    dancing to a four piece combo under a tent attended by 70. .            John, Connie, Allison and Nate plus Allison and Chris DiMatteo

         2008 Egypt with Bev & Jack Grald     February 23 thru March 7

                 Steve and Sandy Earl, Jack and Bev Grald, Anne Holland, and David Westring    Pyramids

                 Alexandria on the Mediterranean and beautiful library     on the Nile   Nubian Dwarf  Don took a ride on a camel

                 big head     large mouth.   Mary with Don and the camel.     Edfu and  Kom Ombo and visited temples

                 Took a Felucca (sail boat) ride.  Here are Mary and Sandy Earl in their galabeyas armed policemen

                 The machine gun on the stern of the top deck of our ship.  Two Photo Albums:    First Half     Second Hal 

     2009 Costa Rica   February 6thru February 22                                                                                                     

                Laguna Lodge   Anhinga babies   howler monkeys, tree frogs J C lizard (which walks on water) 

                Some professional pics     Arenal volcano     toucans    "Hawk-Eagle".    Don went zip lining  

                Tabican Hot Springs    Arenal Volcano area   Fonda Vela Lodge (near the Trapp Family Lodge many crocs

                Marie and Eric Hanse from the Netherlands) the Pacific   sunset and dinner water rafting   Catamaran Cruise

                sunset from our boat   Grano de Oro Hotel and the beautiful restaurant in that hotel.  

                Costa Rica Albums: 

                San  Jose Arrival   Tortuguero National Park   To  Arenal Springs    Ziplining   Hanging Bridges  

                To Monteverde Cloud Forest    Cloud Forest   T  o Quepas Manuel Antonio National Park      Boat Trips 

                 White Water Rafting   San Jose Departure     NY Times April 13, 2014     map of Costa Rico

                 Some Pictures From Costa Rico.   More Pictures from Costa Rica

     2009 Panama

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                Panama   City Tour     skyscrapers       all day transit     frigate birds.        Great view of the canal

                Panama Albums:  Arrival   City Tour  Full Transit of Canal    Departure     Pictures from Panama.

 

      2009 Georgian Bay, Ontario   September 8 thru September 15

                Here are two large Inuksuks: u  u2    Killarney Lodge.    Island Queen.    Inn at Manitou

                The Little Lake B&B (www.littlelakeinn.com)   birds of prey.  Mary and a red tailed hawk.   Georgian Queen

                 Island Princess on the Trent Canal.  Island Queen through the Thousand Islands.

      2010 Monterey, Carmel, and San Francisco  March 3 thru March 10      Carmel and Monterey.

      2010 Amy & Tom Kullgren Wedding in VT  Waybury Inn in East Middlebury in August  Amy & Tom

                 Here are a few pictures

 

      2010 Vancouver & Victoria, BC     October 5 thru October 14

                See very humorous article about new statue of Emily Carr  Fantastic Butchart Gardens  

                Here are a few PICTURES

      2011 Owen Graduates from High School in late May in California

   

      2011 California & Yosemite    May 24 thru June 3      Pictures from Yosemite

      2014 Mary is 80 in Vermont   Pictures of the event on June 11

      2015 NateTowne's Marriage Celebration in Bremen Maine  July 11  100 in attendance

         

            

 
                              Karla                           Amy                             Eric                 David             Karen
 
                       Karen         Eric                     David           Mary          Amy         Karla          Don
 
 
 
 

Chris &  Allison  DiMatteo    

Nate Towne &  Mark Simpson

                                                                        Mary, doing what Maniacs love to do

      2016 Canada May 28 thru June 4    (Owen Graduates from U BC in Vancouver)                                                    

 

Owen Sondergeld's Graduation at University of British Columbia  

Don Francis in Gastown in Vancouver     

Misc in Vancouver     

Train Trip Vancouver to Montreal

               2016  Zach's High School Graduation & Mary is 82     In West Hartford, CT on June 11          

               2016 Aleksey is 21 in VT in June

             

 2016 David & Kit Wedding in CA   September 25    An extensive hodge hodge of pictures in Half Moon Bay

        After the wedding we drove to Monterey and stayed at the Hyatt Monterey.  We then drove 10 miles south to California's terrific Point Lobos State Natural Reserve http://www.pointlobos.org/ with its breath taking beauty where Don took a lot of pictures.  We then had lunch at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands on a cliff overlooking Point Lobos. 

  

 Before returning to Vermont, we joined Karen and Ryan for Karen's birthday dinner at The Fish Market in San Mateo. 

  

      2016 Family: Amy Karla & Eric in CT               October 16                          Family Picture

   2016 Family: Amy David & Eric in VT              December 26                      Family Picture       

      2017 Family: Eric's Birthday in CT                   April 29 at Karla's               Slide Show

 

 

On August 5, 2017 we celebrated our Golden (60th) Wedding Anniversary at Beebe Pond. 60 relatives and friends attended.

 

 

                   

 

 

 

 

 

This site was last updated 09/03/17