My Itinerary and Maps

Romania Itinerary May 25 – June 17, 2011

·         5/25 –  / Leave Denver, CO to Newark, NJ

·         5/25 –  / Leave Newark to Warsaw

·         5/26 –   /  Leave Warsaw, Poland to Bucharest
·         5/26 –  / Arrive in Bucharest

·         5/26 –  / Drive from Bucharest Airport to Pitesti, Romania to stay the night.

·         5/27 –  / Drive to Sibiu, Romania from Pitesti, Romania

·         5/27 - / Arrive in Sibiu, Romania

·         5/28 – Drive to Ungurei, Romania to visit the family village. Explore

·         5/29 – Drive to Petestri,and Pauca to visit two other family villages.  Also visit Presaca,   Dostat, and Boz villages that day.

·         5/30 – Drive to Cunta, Drasov, Spring, Vingard,Maghierat and Rosia de Secas villages.

·         5/31 – Drive to Petresti and Sebes.

·         6/1 – Drive to Ungurei
·         6/2 – Drive to Ungurei.

·         6/3 – Visit the Sibiu County Archives and Sibiu Evangelical Lutheran Church  

·         6/3 – Drive to Alba Iulia and visit the Alba County Archives to do research.

·         6/4 – Spend the day Sibiu seeing museums, theater, etc.

·         6/5 or 6/6 – Drive over the Transfagarasan Pass in the Fagaras Mtns

·         6/5 or 6/6 – Hike to Poieneri Castle Vlad Tepes - (Vlad the Impaler’s) castle ruins.

·         6/7 – Spend time in Sibiu

·         6/8 – Drive to Timisoara and visit Hercules spend the  night.

·         6/9 – Drive from Timisoara to Oradea to Satu Mare, spend the night see the “Merry Cemetery”

·         6/10 Drive from Satu Mare to Suceava and spend the night visit the Bucovina Monasteries

·         6/11 Drive from Suceava to Brasov drive through the Bicaz Gorge and visit Brams castle in Brasov then drive back to Sibiu

·         6/12 – 6/15 Spend time in Sibiu and Gergeschdorf village

·         6/16 –  drive to Bucharest. Visit downtown Bucharest and then drive to  hotel at the airport

·         6/17 –  / Leave Bucharest, Romania to Warsaw,
·         6/17 –  / Arrive in Warsaw, Poland at F. Chopin Airport. Take taxi and visit downtown Warsaw.

·         6/17 –  / Leave Warsaw, Poland to Chicago, IL Ohare                                

·         6/17 –  / Arrive in Chicago, IL Ohare Airport

·         6/17 –  / Leave Chicago to Denver, CO  Arrive in Denver  

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Why Transylvania Romania?

Back in Junior High School when I was working at the local library I became interested in genealogy and started to research my Fesing family tree. I discovered that my grandfather, Martin Fising moved to America along with his sister Maria Fising when he was just 17 y/o and his sister 20 y/o. They came from Romania; however, I never knew exactly where in Romania they came from. My Great grandparents Stefan & Maria Fising had originally came to America in 1904 and settled in Cleveland after they met there and got married. I later found out that they came from villages in Romania that were only about 2 miles apart; however, they did not meet until they arrived in Cleveland, OH along with thousands of other Eastern European immigrants. Once they were married in 1905, they eventually had two children; my grandfather Martin Fising and his sister Maria. In 1909 they moved back to Romania and settled back down; WWI broke out and Stefan was drafted and fought for the Austro-Hungarian Army; he was shot in combat and later died of Pneumonia. After his death my grandfather had to quit school and went to work to support the family. His mother eventually remarried and started a new family; times were hard in Romania after WWI and because of their fathers death Martin & Maria decided to come to America for a better life; since they were already US citizens (because they were born in America) they thought it would be a good decision. They arrived in NY in July of 1926 and settled in Cleveland and eventually started there own families; they never returned back home and never saw there mother again.

Last year the television show, "Who Do You Think You Are?" peeked my interest in my family history once again and with the help of ancestor.com and all the available online resources I discovered the small village that they came from, Gergeschdorf (German name) and Ungurei (Romanian name), it is located in the Transylvanian Plateau near the Transylvanian Alps in central Romania. I did additional research and discovered other Fising relatives in Germany as well as in OH and decided I wanted to step foot in my families village so that is why I am headed to Transylvania, Romania. I hope to do additional research on the family while I am there and connect with my past. I will be leaving on May 25th and will be there for one month.

Buna Seara!

I will be departing for Romania soon! I will be flying out of Denver and will arrive in Romania the next day. I will update my blog with pictures, stories, comments and perspectives of my trip via this blog. I hope you will enjoy traveling with me!

La Revedere!

Tom