Above: The Bayerische Reitschule, where Le Huppé stayed from May 1 to May 4, 1928, was founded in 1927 by Herman Anschütz-Kaempfe (1872-1931), a wealthy engineer and art historian who invented the gyrocompass. He bequeathed the school to the University of Munich. As well as stalls, paddocks and indoor and outdoor riding arenas the Universitats-Reitschule is now home to the elegant Reitschule Cafe-Restaurant.
Source: Reitschule Cafe-Restaurant. If the picture doesn't appear, try doing a Google search for "Universitats-Reitschule Muenchen," limit to images, and then scroll through the results.
Above: "Rosselenker" (Horse Tamer) by Hermann Hahn (detail). Located at the Technical University of Munich, it was created in 1928, the year of Rachel's visit to the city. Another horse in the original sculptural group was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. There are bullet holes in the surviving horse and tamer.
Source: München im Bild (Munich in Pictures).
8. Bucharest, 1928 (continued)
Strasbourg to Munich (Map 2-3-4)
When Rachel left Strasbourg her intention was to proceed to Stuttgart by way of Pforzheim, but her plans evidently changed. Instead, she headed toward the university town of Tübingen, about 40 kilometers south of Stuttgart, where she arrived on April 27. Her welcome there was memorable: 22 students in green uniforms rode out to meet her and when she left a local woman rode along with her for ten kilometers. Evidently she stayed in Tübingen overnight and sent the first of her terse bulletins back to Le Petit Journal:
"Both sick. A day of rest. Very well treated by the Germans. Signed: Le Huppé, Rachel Dorange." The newspaper managed to pad this out to 19 lines of type.
After Tübingen Rachel stopped over in Ulm where, as in other cities, she had a hard time finding accommodation for Le Huppé. "Do you have any idea how extremely difficult it is to find stables in a city these days? Garages, yes, in abundance. But what am I supposed to do with a garage? In Ulm, for example, I ran around for two hours, exhausted, until Le Huppé had found a place to spend the night. I had already decided to continue on to the next village despite the darkness that had fallen when I finally found one."
Nevertheless Rachel had a pleasant time travelling in Germany. "Germany is a cultured country, and I received a warm welcome in both the cities and the countryside. In the cities, I always find people who speak French, and in the countryside, even more so. And yet, despite the comfortable hotel accommodations and the banquets held in my honor, I prefer to spend the night in the countryside. There I don't have to worry about my good horse, he can find stables and feed everywhere."
Rachel reached Munich on Tuesday, May 1 after riding 70 kilometers from Augsburg in pouring rain. There had also been snowfall along the way and Rachel was suffering from a sore throat. And Le Huppé had broken a horseshoe. Given these annoyances the welcome in Munich was all the more gratifying.
A Colonel Faber du Faur arranged for Le Huppé to stay at the Bavarian Riding School on Munich's Königlnstrasse where the horse found the most beautiful lodgings of his journey so far. A dinner was held in Rachel's honour, attended by 40 members of Munich society, all of them fans of equestrian sports. The French consul also attended and Rachel was presented with an engraved silver cup as a souvenir of the occasion.
She told her interviewer about an adventure that happened to her in an unnamed small town en route to Munich. The only person in town who could speak French was a 50-year-old doctor who, ten minutes after they met, told Rachel that she resembled the 18-year-old girl he was engaged to. He kept company with Rachel all evening but when she said goodnight and told him that she had to leave early the next morning he begged her to stay just one more day. Rachel apologetically declined.
Before going to bed she left her boots outside her hotel room door to be cleaned but the next morning one of them was missing. A frantic search failed to turn it up and since she had only one pair she called the police. But it was Sunday and the police told her to call back Monday.
The doctor soon arrived, professed to be outraged by the theft, inaugurated his own search and that afternoon returned triumphantly with the missing boot. It was now much too late for Rachel to leave so she was forced to stay over until the next morning.
Let's not suspect anyone unnecessarily. I actually owe a debt of gratitude to this mishap. Because it rained terribly that Sunday. And poor Le Huppé had forgotten his raincoat at home.
Although she did not smoke or drink, Rachel had some beer at Tuesday night's dinner party and was feeling its effects the next day. She rested Wednesday and Thursday and left Munich on Friday, May 4.
"On Friday morning at 9 o'clock, she swings herself into the saddle of her trusty English-Arabian stallion in front of the riding school on Königlnstrasse to ride to Haag. She plans to reach Passau the following afternoon."