The 'dining room' was set up inside the green tent symbolising a Christmas tree and the Fundão students had pulled out all the stops to make the place look exactly right. The dishes were set out all around the tent and for the food preparation the organisers had provided individual workstations for each country, identified by little flags!
Final preparations for the buffet
Well presented in every respect
At the official opening to which many guests had been invited AEHT president Alfonso Benvenuto made a point of thanking the students and teachers of the Coimbra and Fundão schools for this superb stay in Portugal. Louis Robert, AEHT vice-president and director of the Diekirch hotel school in Luxembourg added his own copious praise, thanking all those who had taken part in this 14th Christmas in Europe 'which would not exist without Christiane Keller. Many thanks to her, many thanks to the teachers and students from Portugal and those who have come from all over Europe. And I should be glad to see you again next year in Örebro', he concluded.
Finally Carlos São Martinho, Fundão's deputy mayor, congratulated the organisers for this splendid event and expressed the wish that other events of this type should take place in Fundão. 'I hope', he said 'that everyone likes it here in Fundão'.
It is time for speeches before the buffet is open
Then the buffet was open with the traditional dash with the participants hunting around for a dish to savour. They were spoilt for choice with dishes from the north to the south of Europe, the delegations having gone to great lengths to produce their very best. The 'Groupo Coral e etnografico de Silvares' choir as well as the accordion player José Pedro took to the stage to present some musical interludes
The 'Groupo Coral e etnografico de Silvares' choir
And at the end of the meal a sound system provided the music for a spontaneous final farandole beneath the tent. However there was a lot of food left over, and unfortunately the students from the Fundão school were not longer there to take advantage of it.
The evening is rounded off with dancing!
Final preparations for the buffet
Well presented in every respect
At the official opening to which many guests had been invited AEHT president Alfonso Benvenuto made a point of thanking the students and teachers of the Coimbra and Fundão schools for this superb stay in Portugal. Louis Robert, AEHT vice-president and director of the Diekirch hotel school in Luxembourg added his own copious praise, thanking all those who had taken part in this 14th Christmas in Europe 'which would not exist without Christiane Keller. Many thanks to her, many thanks to the teachers and students from Portugal and those who have come from all over Europe. And I should be glad to see you again next year in Örebro', he concluded.
Finally Carlos São Martinho, Fundão's deputy mayor, congratulated the organisers for this splendid event and expressed the wish that other events of this type should take place in Fundão. 'I hope', he said 'that everyone likes it here in Fundão'.
It is time for speeches before the buffet is open
Then the buffet was open with the traditional dash with the participants hunting around for a dish to savour. They were spoilt for choice with dishes from the north to the south of Europe, the delegations having gone to great lengths to produce their very best. The 'Groupo Coral e etnografico de Silvares' choir as well as the accordion player José Pedro took to the stage to present some musical interludes
The 'Groupo Coral e etnografico de Silvares' choir
And at the end of the meal a sound system provided the music for a spontaneous final farandole beneath the tent. However there was a lot of food left over, and unfortunately the students from the Fundão school were not longer there to take advantage of it.
The evening is rounded off with dancing!
