Systems/Debugging Specialist wants in on the fun.

Okay, my specialties lie in asm/c (C++ when I have to), debugging, code optimization, etc as a interest/hobby. I have worked in C# as a matter of profession and I would consider myself at least respectably familiar with .NET.

That being said, it appears that if I want to seek any meaningful employment in my area, I'd better learn web development. Furthermore, I'm just plain curious. I actually have some side projects I've always wanted to attempt to implement, and it would require (on my part), some web application development.

I'll admit that I am something of a dichotomous programmer. I'm usually either doing rapid application development in C#/.NET, or I'm tooling around with a disasm'ed binary.

For the purposes of web development, I'd rather the experience (for the time being) be more like the former.

What kind of tools/frameworks would be best for getting me off the ground in web app dev? The only language I know that I believe would be relevant is that I can hack perl. I do know HTML/CSS and have, IMHO, made some nice looking albeit simple web sites.

So, where do I go from here and what do I learn? Also, is it possible to avoid javascript? I have a peculiar dislike for it.

Thanks for your time and your responses!