From Versailles to the Danube … and home
The Summer of 2025 will forever be etched in my memory as a season of journeys — across countries, across time, and across the landscapes of the heart. It was a summer of history and hospitality, of friendship and furry companionship, of remembrance and celebration.
In June, @KitchenChat and I embarked on our Luxury History Hospitality™ 2025 Tour, which carried us from the English countryside
to the grand dame hotels of London
and onward to Paris
and Versailles.
At each stop, the golden thread was afternoon tea — a ritual that, much like history itself, endures and evolves with grace. Whether sipping from delicate china in a stately manor or solving mysteries while journeying through the English countryside in a Belmond train, enjoying the traditions of Wimbledon, each moment was a pause to reflect on how hospitality tells its story through time.
August brought a different kind of adventure — one of long train journeys, familiar places, and discoveries. With Juli and Mr Darcy, Lulu nestled at my side and George keeping watch, we travelled by train through Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, and Zagreb.
Prague (Brief & Beautiful) dazzled as always with its cobblestoned lanes and Gothic spires rising into the summer sky.
Bratislava (Slovak Charm in the Capital) offered its quieter charms and gentleness, a contrast that made it all the more memorable.
And then came Budapest (Homecoming) — George’s homecoming.
Once a little black street dog on the streets of Hungary, he returned triumphant, no longer lost but part of a family who adored him. Watching him stride along the Danube, tail high and confident, was symbolic — the circle of his story closing in the most beautiful way.
Back to Zagreb, memories resurfaced. Walking those familiar streets was bittersweet, but also healing — a reminder that revisiting places allows us to write new chapters alongside the old ones.
The season closed at Monty’s Dog Beach in Crivenika, where a memorial stone etched with Darcy’s name is a testament to the love that endures beyond time. (Darcy @Monty’s)
Watching Lulu and George swim for the first time while I quietly honoured Darcy — the past carried gently into the present, never forgotten, always cherished.
Alongside these journeys came celebrations. Visiting the newly reopened Notre Dame paid tribute to Margaret’s beloved father, who had stood there just before he passed — a pilgrimage of remembrance and love. We remembered Lulu’s Gotcha Day on 22 August, which marked the joy she has brought since coming into my life, while George’s Gotcha Day on 18 September was a celebration of resilience, transformation, and the love that grew from a chance fostering that became forever.
From afternoon teas in London’s grand hotels to long train rides across Eastern Europe, from the sombreness of Notre Dame to the grandeur of Versailles to the quiet waves at Monty’s Dog Beach, the Summer of 2025 was more than travel. It was a tapestry woven with friendship, memory, discovery, and love.
It reminded me that journeys are not just about where we go, but who we share them with — and that with Darcy, George, and Lulu, my heart will always find home wherever we may be.
This was our Summer of 2025.
