Help with choosing uC for development board

Hey guys!
Alright, here goes..
I wish to construct a development board for programming and experimenting with uControllers. I know all the basics and all, and I have a schematic for the board we used in school. However, the uC we used and that I have learned about, is not available for purchase anymore, atleast not on the sites I know of in Denmark.
So Im looking for a good uController to use and learn about now. One I can build my development board around.
The one I am familiar with is an Infineon SAB 80C535, and it had all I needed, now Im looking for a substitute, anyone got some good recommendations?
I need about the same number of ports and with similar features.

At work we are using MC68HC11E1CFN2, would that be any good for me?

I also have a pretty basic question to add.
When I learned about the 80C535 we started programming in Assembler, and then switched to C, compiling with a program from KEIL.
Is all uControllers programmable with C, if I got a compiler?
Could I potentially program a PIC with C?

I hope you guys can get me started.. Basicly what I need is a good uController I can program with C

Off hand I do not know of a current micro controller that can not be programmed in C. There are several C compilers for PICs.

A lot of us skip the development board. I just use a set of solderless breadboards. I have made modules that reduce the wiring time: power regulator, processor, LCD etc. For other stuff I go right to a PCB layout.

That is also my intention once I get a hang of it Right now I just wanna play around a bit, learn some more, before I go ahead and just jump right to it.

Nice to know all uC can be programmed in C. Now all I need is some recommendations