World café volunteers on the move in Leuven. Walk 2

We take the Waaistraat again, but now we take the Minderbroederstraat to the right, past the Sint-Pieterscollege, “the kot” for the students.

Question 1: here they are restoring a hotel with a still well-known noble name. Who is the most famous descendant of that family?

Just after crossing the Dijle, we go left through the door under the admonition “ora et labora” (or: “pray and work”… perhaps well for the friars, but that is not enough for us!).

Notice the typical neo-Gothic style of this building, with its pointed arch windows. A design by architect Helleputte, indeed, the Joris from our square!

We go straight through the corridor to the garden of the Justus Lipsiuscollege. We take the path directly in front of us to the back of the garden. Through the little gate, we enter the Refugehof.

Notice the 2 towers of the first wall: the (brick) Jansenius and the (mainly sandstone) Justus Lipsius tower.

We keep to the right, first along the dolomite path, then to the cobbles directly in front of us. At the end, we take a left and enter Janseniusstraat. A quick left now and then a right into Remi Vandervaerenlaan, until we reach Prosper Pouletlaan, which we take to the right, over the Kapucijnenvoer, under the passage of the former slaughterhouse, to Aldi.

We are effectively taking the tour of the district health center Caleido, so we take a right, cross the slaughterhouse road (which makes a loop here), through the little park to Arthur De Greefstraat. We take a left and arrive at Heilige-Geeststraat. Here and there, you will find shortcuts to the large Carthusian site (e.g., the gate at no. 150), but you will hit a dead end. So, we go left until we reach the Ring (Tervuursevest), briefly taking the Ring to the right.

Behind the pump station, we do not take Kartuizerstraat but dive into the green “private domain” of the Carthusians 50 meters further on. Currently owned by the university that is renovating and restoring it to accommodate unaccompanied minor asylum seekers.

Past the stone gate passage, you will find a Stations of the Cross (14 stations) and a grotto on the left.

Question 2: which family paid for Jesus to fall for the third time?

We walk all the way through the Carthusian site and come to Bankstraat: first right, and then left into Heilige Geeststraat, until we reach the staircase (on the right, at the octopus), next to the playground Erasmushof. We walk down to Kapucijnenvoer,

Then to the left until we meet the Minderbroederstraat.

On the right, you see the “anatomical theater”: the benches for students are arranged in an amphitheater style (from low to high). Downstairs, the professor taught anatomy on “live” corpses (or how else would you say it?). Andreas Vesalius (who Latinized his name, because Drieske Van Wesel doesn't sound quite right!?) would have “picked” the corpses of condemned criminals for his anatomical studies at Galgenberg in Brussels... where the Palace of Justice now stands, indeed!

But we take the left route at the main entrance of the Botanical Garden, supposedly the oldest of its kind in Belgium (for pharmacology lessons and the medicinal properties of herbs and plants).

In the garden, we keep to the left and go through the alpine greenhouse to the “sunken garden” (follow the arrows). There you can take a moment to relax and catch your breath while you investigate:

Question 3: give the Dutch name of the acer rubrum.

We exit the sunken garden on the other side... to the orchard. Oh, still too early for any fruit, then let’s head immediately through the sliding door at the back right of the “fern house.” We walk through (take a whiff of the smell!) and take a left up at the exit. We follow the arrows towards the pond and before we reach it, we go left, over the stream, to the exit on Heilige Geeststraat.

We walk quite a way to the right, down Heilige Geeststraat, past Tervuursestraat, to Sint-Hubertusstraat (right), from which we take the extension on the left, Van Waeyenbergstraat.

Watch out for the cyclists coming down from Gasthuisberg!

We do not take Daneelsgang, but a little further, take Vestinggang.

In it, turn right toward the yellow houses, and via Pioengang, we come back out onto Van Waeyenberglaan. Quite a nice detour, right?

We continue up until we take a left into Groefstraat. Just before the bend, we take the path on the right. Just keep to the left along the entire curve, until we reach the T, then move back to the right and, via the extension of the U-profiles to the left, exit the inner garden. And we are back at the neighborhood center Mannenstraat.

We cross the lane and between the white-yellow cross and OZ, we enter Van Wayenberghpark, with sports fields to our left, but we keep right and end up in Kaboutermansstraat, the back of the student residence Camillo Torres, now 50 years old and in need of thorough restoration. Therefore, we cannot go “through the back,” but must take Kaboutermansstraat up to the left, to Muurkruidstraat, and take a right to Brusselsestraat.

We turn right and discover at no. 290 the “Koeieschieter.”

Question 4: People from Mechelen are Maneblussers, people from Brussels are Kiekenfretters, and people from Leuven are thus koeieschieters. But what is the more common nickname for the people of Leuven?

We continue down Brusselsestraat to Ierse Predikherenstraat. We walk through it, past Bloemberggang (idyllic, but a dead end). Let’s just drop in: this is one of those typical little alleys or neighborhoods with tiny workers’ houses. They still exist on the right, but on the left (on those vacant plots or gardens) there used to be just as many and just as “big”!

We walk through until we reach across from house number 98, where we go through the little gate and take the steps up: the Noormannenparkje. Keep right, past the parking, through the passage, all the way to the top right, and then descend to Wijnpersstraat.

In the street, we walk down on the right, past the greenhouses and gardens of the provincial horticultural school. At the end of the street, you have a beautiful view of the beautifully restored Wijnpers building.

We cross Donkerstraat (watch out for cars, which also come flying “downhill” here), until we reach Ridderstraat.

Just to the left and then right into Penitentienenstraat: here it is also blissfully quiet to live, in total peace... especially if you have completed your penance.

Question 5: what are we talking about when we mention a penance?

At the end, we take a left on a sandy path (not the Jaartallenpad), which leads us to Predikherenparkje, with a community vegetable garden and an outdoor children's amphitheater.

We take Fonteinstraat to the right until we reach Mechelsestraat.

Then briefly to the left, Burchtstraat (“down on den boelenberg”) to the right and as soon as possible, again to the right: Glasblazerijstraat, next to the new social housing of Dijledal... and we arrive at Sluisparkje, now just 2 years old.

Walk straight through until you reach the asphalt. To our left is “De Hoorn,” a cooperative for innovation in the former brewing halls of Stella. Look to the left by the bridge: here too we have “Dijle-terraces”… where you can even paddle! And for the little ones, you have noticed a water playground on your right.

We go right, once again crossing the Dijle. On the vacant lot on the right stood the former buildings of Stella. The restored building on the left, the smithy, was also part of the Artois heritage.

Just after the Smithy, we do not take a left (the Snoekenpad, shortcut to Vaartstraat), but take a right into “Klein Begijnhof,” which we turn left at the bend, following the white houses.

Question 6: Where did the Holy Family live?

We come to Half Maartstraat. Look immediately to the left: no urinal but a genuine “pissijn”! Botanists have a very (to them interesting) explanation about the special flora here! “Touching” heritage!

We go left, cross the Dijle again, and take Vaartstraat to the right.

As soon as we can, we turn right into Karel van Lotharingenstraat, and in the bend, we cross the bridge and the “lock” over the Dijle and arrive in the garden of Sint-Geertrui. Follow the path to the left. In the former abbey church in this garden, you now find the museum of the (Belgian) scouts and guides (VVKS-VVKM).

We stay left, alongside the remarkable Thiery wing: Canon Thiery bought rubble from facades after the Leuven fire (1914) and puzzled them together into a bizarre assortment, where pieces of ground-floor facades even ended up on a first floor...

We come through the gate at the entrance of Sint-Geertrui church. The tower is considered one of the wonders of Leuven, built by Jan van Ruusbroeck (also the master builder of the Brussels city hall tower) realized without a single nail (because it is completely made of stone, but entirely “open”: the wind blows right through it). Inside the church, you find a splendid Gothic choir stall in miniature wood carving.

We take a left (past the café = now the “neighborhood bistro under the tower”), cross Mechelsestraat, and take Halvestraat straight in front of us, crossing the Dijle again, and go straight ahead: Pereboomstraat. We walk along the Dijle until we see the Bruul park on our left, saved from the construction of an underground parking lot according to the new governance agreement (of the ruling parties)! We enter the park on the left and walk all the way through to Brouwersstraat.

This park hosts the world festival annually, with stands from various organizations from and for the South, including us!

Now briefly to the left until we reach the bend to the right.

Before we cross the street and enter Handbooghof on the right:

Question 7: if you know which river the Leuven-Mechelen canal flows into, then you also know where Mercator was born…

Along Handbooghof, we see remnants of the first wall, but also a “clay structure” with very old earth...

Question 8: three days before Valentine's Day, Philemonke was here. In what year?

We come to Brusselsestraat. Now briefly to the left, and then, left of the hospital, we take the parking lot, and cross all the way through to Onze-Lieve-Vrouwstraat, indeed via the back of the Kloster hotel.

We turn left, cross the Dijle once more, and arrive at Drinkwaterstraat. Via den Tempst, we return to Joris and a hell's well… where BBQ is waiting for us! (but first an aperitif!)