My husband Tony and I adopted our son Cristian at the age of two from Romania.  We always promised him that when he was old enough, we would take him to see his birthplace. This past June Cristian celebrated his 12th birthday, and we fulfilled our promise! After nearly a year of research and planning, we traveled to Romania at the end of June for a weeklong visit. We flew on Swissair, via Zurich, to Bucharest. This is the same airline and route Cristian had taken along with three other children, when he traveled to Florida with Lorri Kellogg, Executive Director/Founder Universal Aid for Children, on December 23, 1996.

We landed in Bucharest after traveling for 25 hours, and a driver from the hotel met us at the Otopeni airport. During the 30 minute drive to the hotel, he pointed out the historical landmarks and buildings around Bucharest and we got our first taste of what driving would be like while we were there. The streets of Bucharest were crowded with cars, buses, and trams. The lanes appeared to be arbitrary and cars would suddenly swerve left or right to avoid one another.

We spent our first night at the Marriott Grand Hotel, built during Ceausescu’s reign for communist dignitaries. Our room faced the House of Parliament across the street, which is the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon. After a tasty Romanian breakfast which included fresh bread, eggs, cheese, meats, and fruit, we met Lidia Lombard, UAC European Program Director, in the lobby of our hotel. For Cristian, it was a reunion, since ten years ago Lidia had handled his adoption in Romania. She had made the necessary arrangements for our visit to the city of Iasi where Cristian was born, and was traveling there with us. We rented a car at the hotel, and with Lidia at my side to give directions, we headed off for an 8 hour drive to Iasi. Tony doesn’t like to drive in big cities, so I was elected to drive us out of the city. After the trip from the airport, I was a little apprehensive about driving in Bucharest. One of my first impressions about driving with Lidia will forever be engrained in my memory! Upon exiting the hotel driveway, she told me I needed to cross five lanes of traffic to make a right turn off the traffic circle. I couldn’t imagine how I would ever do that, since it didn’t appear the traffic would ever stop. Before I had time to worry much, Lidia had rolled down her window, stuck her head out, and smiled and waved to all the traffic to stop! They did and I proceeded to cross all five lanes and made my turn without difficulty. That became a standard maneuver throughout our trip, and no one ever seemed to mind when we would make traffic come to a standstill when we needed to change lanes or ask for directions. One of Cristian’s lasting memories is the willingness of the other drivers and people on the street to be so helpful and give us directions, even if it meant missing a green light at an intersection.

The roads outside the city had less traffic and it was more relaxing to drive. Most of the roads had two lanes, with one lane for each direction. The Romanians use the shoulder of the road as an additional lane, so I quickly learned to drive on the shoulder, unless I was passing a slow moving vehicle or cart. There were many carts on the roads, pulled by horses, donkeys, and oxen. Even in the smaller cities it was common to pass them on the street. When we got back to Florida, and were driving home from the airport, I actually missed seeing the carts on the road.

We stopped for lunch at a small outdoor restaurant on the way to Iasi. Cristian and Tony ate the famous Romanian sweet and sour soup, while Lidia and I had salads. The food was delicious and we knew we were going to enjoy eating while we were in Romania! During the drive to Iasi, Lidia explained our itinerary and described the government officials we would meet. She also mentioned that the news media might cover some of Cristian’s visit. She taught him a few phrases in Romanian, such as “I love you”, and prepared him for the questions they might ask. Cristian took it all in stride, and spent a good portion of the journey thinking about what to say, and memorizing his words.

As we neared Iasi the countryside changed from the flat fields full of bright yellow sunflowers, to lush green hills dotted with farms and the vineyards for which Iasi is famous. It appeared idyllic and peaceful. Over the last hill we entered Iasi and saw a lovely city, with beautiful tree-lined streets. Cristian loved the fact that many of the buildings were painted with bright colors. Once again Lidia navigated our way to the Hotel Europa where we were to stay, and the people graciously responded to her requests for directions. That evening we went to a local restaurant for dinner with several of the government officials, including Mr. Ion Serbina – President of Iasi Child Protection Commission, Mr. Iovu Brezuleanu – Assistant Governor of Iasi, and Ms. Simona Budai – Director Iasi Adoption Department. Simona had done Cristian’s Romanian home study for the adoption, and Mr. Serbina had signed Cristian’s final adoption papers. Simona’s husband, Emanuel, also attended the dinner, to help Lidia with the translation. We had a wonderful time at dinner, and got to enjoy a variety of Romanian specialties such as cabbage rolls and stuffed grape leaves. Mr. Serbina learned that Cristian liked mushrooms, so he ordered grilled mushrooms for him. This turned out to be his favorite meal for the whole trip. We shared with them information about Cristian’s interests and activities over the past ten years and also showed them photographs which chronicled his life since coming to America. We also showed them photos of some of the other children from the same orphanage that now live in Tampa. They were very pleased to see how well everyone is doing and to know they still see one another. Cristian told Mr. Serbina that one of the girls, named Andrea, refers to them as “cousins”, since they all came from the same orphanage. This pleased Mr. Serbina greatly.

The following morning we went to the child protection office in Iasi, where we met with Mr. Serbina,  Simona, and Mr. Pintilie Penciuc – Deputy Executive Director Iasi Child Protection Department, for a scheduled press conference. At least 15 reporters and cameramen arrived to interview Cristian. They represented three television stations and three newspapers. Mr. Serbina also did a live radio broadcast while we there. Cristian remained calm and composed throughout the entire interview process, and handled it with a maturity far beyond his years. He enjoyed it and the reporters truly seemed fascinated to hear his story and were very pleased that he had returned to learn about his homeland. After the press conference, we said our good-byes to Mr. Serbina. By this time, Cristian and Mr. Serbina had become good friends, and upon leaving, Cristian gave Mr. Serbina a “high five” to seal their friendship.
The next stop on our itinerary was the visit to the orphanage where Cristian had spent the first two years of his life. Simona escorted us to the orphanage, which is now used to house older children who no longer qualify for foster homes because they are over the age of five. We saw a group of boys, some about Cristian’s age, playing outside, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether they had been there with Cristian. The building where he stayed was smaller than I expected, but everything appeared to be fairly well-kept. The inside of the building was long and narrow, with many doors, all of which were closed. The children seemed happy and the older ones also spoke a little English. I brought along pictures Lidia had taken of Cristian when we received our referral. We took a picture of him standing in the same spot as in one of the pictures.  The experience for me was almost surreal and it was hard to imagine that Cristian had ever actually lived there.  

After we left the orphanage, we drove around the corner to the hospital where Cristian had been abandoned when he was five months old. As we entered the hospital lobby where Cristian had been found, I could see him trying to visually absorb every inch of that space, as if he were trying to etch it permanently in his mind. The walls of the lobby contained bright, colorful tile mosaics. It was not as drab as I had imagined. Although it was a somber experience, I am glad we went there. We have now seen the place where Cristian’s life changed forever and eventually led to him becoming our son.

After seeing the hospital, we went back to the hotel to change into more casual clothes for an afternoon of sightseeing. That afternoon, Lidia took us on a walking tour of Iasi. Our first stop was a visit to the courthouse where Lidia took Cristian for his adoption and then we stopped to see the Church of St. Nicholas, one of the oldest Greek orthodox churches in Moldavia, having been built in 1491. Next we went to the Cultural Palace, which had a gift shop where I was able to buy some of the local handcrafts, such as painted eggs and pottery plates. Lidia made a point to take us to a church built by Vasile Lupu, a popular ruler of Iasi in the 15th century. The street where Cristian’s orphanage is located is named after him. Some of the other famous historical sights which we saw included the Metropolitan Church, the Opera House, and the Romanian Literature Museum, all built in the 1800s and quite impressive. Iasi is a charming city, and Cristian stated it best when he said, “I like where I come from”.

We returned to the hotel in time to catch the evening news, and were able to see one of Cristian’s interviews, which was translated into Romanian. Later we went to Simona’s apartment for a traditional home-cooked meal with her husband and three year old daughter Ilinka. She also presented Cristian with some Romanian hand-made tapestries, a decorated egg and some picture books of Iasi. Cristian had a good time playing with Ilinka and it was a fun to get a brief glimpse into the life of a Romanian family.

The next morning before we left Iasi, Lidia stopped at a newsstand and bought three different newspapers that carried the story about Cristian. We then drove across the Carpathian Mountains to reach Transylvania. Just outside the town of Brasov, we left Lidia at a restaurant where she had arranged for her husband Mac to pick her up and take her back to Bucharest. We planned to travel a few more days on our own, and then we would see Lidia one last time in Bucharest. It was hard to say good-bye to her, because it had been so much fun.

We drove on alone to the ski resort of Poiana Brasov, where we spent two nights. During our time there we drove to Bran, to visit Dracula’s Castle, and also visited an old fortress in Rasnov, built in the 1300s. On the way we drove to a nearby town called “Cristian”, and took pictures of Cristian standing in front of the sign to “his” town. We continued to enjoy the food, and ate dinner one night at the famous Coliba Haiducilor (“Outlaws Hut”) restaurant in Poiana Brasov where we were serenaded by gypsy musicians.

Our next destination was Mamaia , on the Black Sea Coast, which was about a day’s drive from Poiana Brasov. Lidia arranged for us to stay at the famous Rex Hotel, where we had an ocean-front room with a great view of the Black Sea, which is actually named for the deadly nature of the ever-changing weather conditions on the ocean. While there we drove up the coast to the Danube Delta and visited the ruins of the oldest town in Romania, Histria, settled around 200 B.C. by the Greeks. Cristian had a great time exploring the ruins and throwing rocks into the sea, possibly in the same spot where his early ancestors did the same thing thousands of years ago. That afternoon, which was the Fourth of July, we relaxed on the beach. Cristian had fun playing in the sand and water, and catching large green frogs on the beach!

After two days in Mamaia, we headed back to Bucharest and the Marriott Grand Hotel. This time the driving didn’t seem at all difficult. Lidia showed up later that afternoon, as promised. She had copies of the newspaper articles translated for us, and also managed to acquire a bottle of wine from Iasi which had been bottled in 1994, the year of Cristian’s birth. We plan to save it for a special occasion in Cristian’s future. We shared a glass of champagne with Lidia before saying a final good-bye and thanked her for making Cristian’s dream and our promise come true.

On July 6, 2006, our 27th wedding anniversary, we left Bucharest. When we arrived at the airport, a sky-cab came up to us and pointed at Cristian. He spoke excitedly in Romanian, and our driver told us he was asking if that was “the boy from America?” He had seen his story on the news in Bucharest and knew all about Cristian. This made Cristian so happy and he just grinned proudly, because his story had been seen all over Romania. It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

As our plane took off from Bucharest, I felt a twinge of sadness to be leaving this beautiful country and its beautiful people. I was reminded of something I read in one of the books Simona had given to Cristian in Iasi. It said, “If you have been to Iasi one time then you will always feel the calling of this city imbued with spirituality. You will say with nostalgia, ‘What I would give to go once more to Iasi’. No, Iasi will not let you forget it”.  No one in our family can, or will, ever forget our trip to Romania. Cristian has vowed to return again one day, which I am certain he will.