Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2007
Subject: and now, news from Portugal!
Ola amigos!
Well, here i am after a great week of holidays with my family in Portugal. I caught a flight out of brussels last friday and i leave here on monday. i took the opportunity to get reaquianted with brussels, walked the grand place, saw the mannequipiss (sp?), ate a waffle, and sampled chocolates in one of many choclateries...europe is great!
this week I have spent visiting family, doing some sight seeing and eating...oh my goodness! The portuguese tease that they are last in pretty much everything within the European Union, but the one thing they do undoubtedly well is eat!! I have eaten tons of fresh fish, well seasoned meat dishes, cod fish cakes, rissois (shrimp cakes) and lovely desserts....YUM!
We went out for fast food last sunday. 
Well, fast food being you walk into the restaurant and select the fresh fish you want from large boxes of ice at the front...they grill it up nicely for you, and to accompany this comes baked potatoes and a salad and your choice of wine...of course, the meal is not complete without a homemade dessert and espresso coffee! See the pictures attached :) 
My family is here in the central part of portugal, around lisbon. we are heading north tomorrow to the second largest city Porto to visit my cousin and stay the night. we will be touring the port wine cellars of the area (the brits developed a monolopy here of port wine hundreds of years ago) and sampling, of course!
So that is me in a nutshell. Mark is picking me up in Brussels on Monday with his friend Alan in tow, and we are then heading to Paris for a couple of days of sightseeing. Then we are meeting up with 2 other friends to spend a few days in Argentiere (french alps) doing some snowboarding. i will probably only indulge in one day of this...i'm not as pro as the rest of them! no worries, the apres ski promises to be great: phil is bringing French wine (for those who don't know him, he is currently studying in france), mark is bringing belgian beer and dutch cheese, and i am bringing port wine and portuguese sausage. very international indeed!
Now i am rambling...cheers to you all, and send me news of what you're up to...i will respond with a personal email, i promise!
Luisa
