Valkenburg

Valkenburg means falcon castle in Dutch and can refer to:

Valkenburg aan de Geul

Valkenburg aan de Geul ( pronunciation ) (Limburgish: Valkeberg) is a municipality situated in the southeastern Dutch province of Limburg. The name refers to the central town in the municipality, Valkenburg, and the small river Geul.

History

Sieges and conquests have been the recurrent theme in the history of Valkenburg, especially in connection with Valkenburg castle, seat of the counts of Valkenburg (or Falkenburg). It was here that Beatrice of Falkenburg grew up, who, in 1269 at the age of 15, married 60-year-old Richard of Cornwall, king of the Holy Roman Empire. In December 1672 the castle was once again destroyed by Dutch troops led by William III, trying to prevent the armies of Louis XIV of France from capturing it, this time not to be rebuilt.

In the 19th century, because of the natural beauty of the area, Valkenburg became a sought-after holiday destination for the well-to-do in the Netherlands. Tourism developed, especially after in 1853 the railway from Maastricht to Heerlen and Aachen opened. Valkenburg railway station is the oldest surviving station in the Netherlands. In the beginning of the 20th century, well-known Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers lived in Valkenburg for several years. He helped develop tourism by designing a hotel, an open-air theater and a copy of the catacombs of Rome. Furthermore, he restored the medieval church and designed several tombs and a chapel in Gothic Revival style in a graveyard situated on Cauberg, a steep hill outside the town center.

Philippe Gilbert

Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team BMC Racing Team. Gilbert is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour. Gilbert was accused of abusing Cortisone by an anonymous former Lotto teammate during this dominant period with Omega Pharma–Lotto, an allegation which the Belgian vehemently denies.

A Classics specialist, Gilbert has won several classic cycle races, including Paris–Tours twice (2008, 2009), the Giro di Lombardia twice (2009, 2010), the Amstel Gold Race three times (2010, 2011, 2014), La Flèche Wallonne (2011), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (2011) and the Clásica de San Sebastián (2011). He has also won stages at each of the three cycling Grand Tours; he won three stages at the Giro d'Italia, winning one in 2009 and two in 2015, a stage at the Tour de France in 2011, and five stages at the Vuelta a España, winning two in both 2010 and 2012, and one in 2013.

Christmas market

A Christmas market, also known as Christkindlmarkt, Marché de Noël, Christkindlesmarkt, Christkindlmarket, and Weihnachtsmarkt, is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol in Northern Italy and the eastern French regions of Alsace, Lorraine and Savoy. The history of Christmas markets goes back to the Late Middle Ages in the German-speaking part of Europe and in many parts of the former Holy Roman Empire that includes many eastern regions of France and Switzerland. Dresden's Strietzelmarkt was first held in 1434. The Christmas markets of Bautzen (first held in 1384),Frankfurt (first mentioned in 1393) and Munich (1310) Augsburg (1498) were even older. The Vienna "December market" was a kind of forerunner of the Christmas market and dates back to 1294.

In many towns in Germany and Austria, Advent is usually ushered in with the opening of the Christmas market or "Weihnachtsmarkt". In southern Germany and Austria it is sometimes called a "Christkind(e)l(s)markt" (German language, literally meaning "Christ child market"). Generally held in the town square and adjacent pedestrian zones, the market sells food, drink, and seasonal items from open-air stalls, accompanied by traditional singing and dancing. On opening nights (and in some towns more often) onlookers welcome the "Christkind" (originally boy Jesus, but more often depicted as an angel-like girl), acted out by a local child, especially at the Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg.