| April 2, 2002 Hello again Just a round-up of my Easter holiday. I had 3 days off school, so a five day weekend. I went to Aveiro on Thursday with my roommate. It's a city near the coast, about 45 minutes by car from here. Beautiful city with interesting shops, restaurants, old areas, and canals with little boats on them. Nothing like Venice, of course. We also hit the beach and sunbathed a little, although it was a bit chilly. Saw some surfers, so I'm thinking about getting back into that once the bike trip is over. I'll have to rent equipment, though. Sunday I went with my friend Emanuel to his family Easter in a town up in the mountains. The drive there was beautiful - mountains, valleys, rivers, gorges. We drove over the River Paiva, which is appartently the least polluted in Europe. It's in a deep gorge and is itself very deep. I didn't have my camera, but will go back and get photos. Had a nice time with his family, too. I met about 80 people - aunts, cousins, uncles, parents..... they were nice and we got some good food, too! I did 2 big bike rides: Saturday on the mountain roads for 165km in 6.5 hours, then Monday on mountain roads and trails for 167km in almost 9 hours. Really long!!!! But well worth it. We got to the top of several mountains and the views were beautiful. Our highest point was 1200m. If you care to look on a map, we climed the Serra de Caramulo on Saturday and the Serra de Montemuro on Monday. Four weeks until the Algarve trip, and I think we'll be ready. That's the news for now. Hope all is well. Phil |