1.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
2.
Limburg (Netherlands)
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Limburg is the southernmost of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. It is in the part of the country, stretched out from the north, where it touches the province of Gelderland, to the south. Its northern part has the North Brabant province to its west and its long eastern boundary is the international border with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Much of the west border runs along the River Maas, bordering the Flemish province of Limburg, on the south end, it has borders with the Flemish exclave of Voeren and its surrounding part of Liège, Wallonia. The Vaalserberg is on the extreme point, marking the tripoint of Netherlands, Germany. Limburgs major cities are the provincial capital Maastricht, as well as Heerlen, more than half of the population, approximately 620,000 people, live in the south of Limburg, which corresponds to roughly 1/3rd of the provinces area proper. In South Limburg, most people live in the agglomerations of Maastricht, Parkstad. Limburg has a distinctive character. A less appreciated consequence of this international gateway location is rising international crime, often drug-related, Limburgs name derives from the fortified town of the same name, situated on the river Vesdre near the High Fens, now in the nearby Belgian province of Liège. Its name is derived from the Germanic elements *lindo, lime tree, Limburg town was the seat of the medieval Duchy of Limburg. None of present-day Limburg was part of duchy, which had its northern border along what is the modern southern border of South Limburg. The Duchy of Limburg also came under Brabantine control in 1288 after the Battle of Worringen, and the holdings of Brabant evolved into the Burgundian Netherlands. By 1473, the lands of Overmaas and the Duchy of Limburg formed one unified delegation to the States General of this polity, hence both the terms Overmaas and Limburg came to be used loosely to refer to this one political province of the so-called Seventeen Provinces. The connection to Limburg was recalled in the 19th century when the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands desired a new name for the province after the defeat of Napoleon, the French empire had reformed the region, along with Belgian Limburg. For centuries, the location of the current province made it a much-coveted region among Europes major powers. Romans, Habsburg Spaniards, Prussians, Habsburg Austrians and French have all ruled parts of Limburg, for long periods of history the region was not united under the same rule. The first inhabitants of whom traces have been found were Neanderthals who camped in South Limburg, in Neolithic times flint was mined in underground mines, including one at Rijckholt that is open to visitors. After this genocide the area was repopulated with a set of peoples that later under Roman rules
3.
Christian Democratic Appeal
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The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Sybrand van Haersma Buma has been the party leader since 18 May 2012, the party suffered severe losses in the 2010 general election, losing half of its seats and falling to fourth place in the House of Representatives. Subsequently, the CDA again lost a number of seats in the 2012 general election. Since 1880 the sizeable Catholic and Protestant parties had worked together in the so-called Coalitie and they shared a common interest in public funding of religious schools. In 1888 they formed the first Christian-democratic government, led by the Anti-Revolutionary Æneas Baron Mackay, the cooperation was not without problems and in 1894 the more anti-papist and aristocratic conservatives left the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, to found the Christian Historical Union. The main issues dividing Protestants and Catholics was the position of the Dutch Representation at the Holy See, the General League evolved into the Roman Catholic State Party by 1926, and the Catholic Peoples Party in 1945. From 1918 to 1967, the three Christian Democratic parties had a majority in both houses of the States General, and at least two of them were included in every cabinet, the KVP and its antecedents had been in government without interruption since 1918. In the sixties, the Dutch society became more secularized and the pillars faded, in 1963 general election the three parties held 51% of the vote, whilst in 1972 general election they held only 32%. This decline forced the three parties to work closer together, in 1967 the Group of Eighteen was formed, it was a think-tank of six prominent politicians per party that planned the future cooperation of the three parties. In 1968 the three leaders of the parties (Norbert Schmelzer, Barend Biesheuvel and Jur Mellema made a public appearance. This caused progressive forces within the three parties, especially the ARP and KVP, to regret their political affiliation, in 1968 they founded the Political Party of Radicals, a left-wing party that sought cooperation with the Labour Party. Locally and provincially however the three parties had long cooperated well, in areas they formed one Christian-democratic parliamentary party. In the 1971 general election, the three presented a common political program, which lay the foundation for the first Biesheuvel cabinet. After the disastrous elections of 1972 the cooperation was given new momentum, in 1973 this federation was officially formed, with Steenkamp as chairperson. The cooperation was frustrated by the formation of the Den Uyl cabinet, established by the leader of the social-democratic PvdA, Den Uyl refused to allow members of the CHU in the cabinet that he would lead. This led to a situation where the CHU, ARP and KVP sat as a faction in both houses of parliament, but only the KVP and ARP supplied ministers and junior ministers. The cabinet Den Uyl was riddled with political and personal conflicts, another issue that split the three parties was the place that the Bible would take in the new party. In 1976, the three announced that they would field a single list at the 1977 general election under the name Christian Democratic Appeal
4.
Piste
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A piste is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. This European term is French and synonymous with trail, slope, pronunciation varies slightly in English, with British English using a long i, and American pronunciation using a short i. Increasingly, North Americans employ its common European antonym, off piste, to describe backcountry skiing, pistes are usually maintained using tracked vehicles known as snowcats to compact or groom the snow to even out trail conditions, remove moguls, and redistribute snow to extend the ski season. Natural snow is often augmented with snow making machines early in the season or when the snowpack is low, typically, grading is done by the resort, and grades are relative to other trails within that resort. In North America, a rating system is used to indicate the comparative difficulty of trails. Australia and New Zealand also share the same rating system, ski trail difficulty is measured by percent slope, not degree angle. A 100% slope is a 45 degree angle, in general, beginner slopes are between 6% and 25%. Intermediate slopes are between 25% and 40%, difficult slopes are 40% and up. However, this is just a rule of thumb. Although slope gradient is the consideration in assigning a trail difficulty rating. A trail will be rated by its most difficult part, even if the rest of the trail is easy, ski resorts assign ratings to their own trails, rating a trail compared only with other trails at that resort. Also considered, width of the trail, sharpest turns, terrain roughness, in Europe, pistes are classified by a color-coded system. The actual color system differs in parts for each country - in all blue, red. Shapes are not always used - sometimes all ratings are circles as being defined in the rules of the German Skiing Association DSV. The three basic color codes of the DSV have been integrated into the national standards DIN32912 in Germany, the ratings are, Green Learning or Beginner slopes. These are usually not marked trails, but tend to be large, open, can sometimes be marked as a Green circle. Blue An easy trail, similar to the North American Green Circle, the slope gradient shall not exceed 25% except for short wide sections with a higher gradient. Sometimes described as a blue square, Red An intermediate slope, similar to the North American Blue Square
5.
Pinkpop Festival
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Pinkpop Festival or PINKPOP is a large, annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend, starting in 1970, at Burgemeester Damen Sportpark in the town of Geleen, PinkPop is the oldest and longest running annual dedicated pop and rock music festival in the world. Nowadays, Pinkpop is a festival, from Saturday through Monday, with a 60,000 people per day capacity. During 44 editions, more than 2 million people have attended Pinkpop, some 700 music acts have played at the festival. Acts that appeared at Pinkpop are Rush, Green Day, Paul McCartney, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, The Police, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Van Halen. From 2006 through 2011, Pinkpop sold out six years in a row, in 1994, it was decided to sell only 60,000 tickets, to prevent overcrowding due to the popularity of the festival. In 1995, it was made into a 2-day festival, two years later, in 1997, this was further expanded to three days. 2007 saw a spin-off, later in the year, on 11 August, called Pinkpop Classic, for a rock audience. This spin-off was held again in following years, with exception of 2011, in 2008, Pinkpop was for the first time in its history not held on Pentecost weekend, which fell too early that year for the convenience of fans and performers alike. This was decided following the 2005 edition, in which the Pentecost weekend also fell early, sales were disappointing in 2005, so by shifting the 2008 festival, the organisation hoped to solve these problems. Pinkpop 2008 turned out to have had the largest concert attendance to date, the dates for the 2010,2013,2015 and 2016 edition have been shifted as well, for similar reasons. The name consists of two parts, pink comes from the Dutch word for Pentecost and pop comes from pop music. But a later creative interpretation for the name combines the English word pink and the Dutch word pop, which means doll, thus forming the origin for the logo, the precursor to Pinkpop was held on Pentecost Monday in 1969. It was completely free, and called Pinknick because people were supposed to bring their own food, only a free pig roast and free apples were provided by the organizers. Inspired by the Monterey festival from 1967, a number of hip local bands were persuaded to come, almost 10,000 visitors were attracted, ranging from pop music lovers to grandparents and their grandchildren. And families with empty shopping bags, loading up on apples, Pinkpop 2007 was held on May 26,27 and 282007. It was the 20th time the event was held at the Megaland Park, on February 28, most of the line-up was revealed. Pearl Jam was announced to make their 3rd appearance on the Pinkpop stage, a Krezip replaced Amy Winehouse, because she had to cancel due to illness
6.
Pentecost
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The Christian holiday of Pentecost is celebrated 50 days from Easter Sunday, counting inclusive of Easter Sunday itself, i. e.49 days or 7 weeks after Easter Sunday. Therefore it always occurs on a Sunday and it is also the tenth day after Ascension Thursday, which itself is 40 days from Easter, counting inclusive of Easter Sunday itself. Subsequently, Pentecost may refer to the Pentecost of the New Testament, Shavuot is a significant event shared by Jews and Christians but Christians do not commonly celebrate it as a separate holiday. In the Christian liturgical year it became a feast commemorating what is described by some Christians as the Birthday of the Church. The holy day is also called White Sunday or Whitsunday, especially in the United Kingdom, the Monday after Pentecost is a legal holiday in many European nations. Pentecost is the old Greek and Latin name for the Jewish Festival of Weeks which can be found in the Hebrew Bible and it is called by that name in Exodus 34,22 and Deuteronomy 16,10. It is also called the Festival of Reaping in Exodus 23,16, Jews traditionally read the Book of Ruth at Pentecost, as the story links with the grain harvest theme of the festival. The Talmud refers to Shavuot as Atzeret, referring to the prohibition against work on this holiday and to the conclusion of the holiday, since Shavuot occurs 49 days after the first day of Passover, Hellenistic Jews gave it the name Pentecost. According to Jewish tradition, Pentecost commemorates Gods giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai,49 days after the Exodus, the Talmud derives this from a calculation based on Biblical texts. There is a Jewish tradition that King David was born and died at Pentecost, in the Apostle Peters first sermon, recorded in Acts 2, 14–39, he linked the life, death and Ascension of Jesus to King Davids death, burial and hope of immortality. The biblical narrative of Pentecost is given in the chapter of the Book of Acts. Present were about one hundred and twenty followers of Christ, including the Twelve Apostles, his mother Mary, various other women disciples and his brothers. Their reception of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room is recounted in Acts 2, 1–6, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. He also mentions that it was the hour of the day. Acts 2,41 then reports, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, Peter stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring that would be available to all believers from that point on, Jews and Gentiles alike
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listen); Limburgish: Lankgraaf) is a municipality in southeastern Limburg, Netherlands. Snow World is the largest indoor ski piste in Europe.
Landgraaf travel guide from Wikivoyage
Landgraaf
