What to do when you hit a milestone birthday...and more importantly, where do you go and with who? Fortunately these were all questions that I could easily answer. I hadn't been to Paris for over a decade so another visit was long overdue, and my beau Simon had never been, which only added to the excitement of the trip.
When planning a break, for me it's all about design. I tend to seek out hotels with decor that I know will inspire me and as I'm currently channelling lashings of minimal-luxe decor, hotel Trinité Haussmann seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
Just a short stroll from the Opera Garnier and famous department store Galeries Lafayette, this newly refurbished hotel was designed by Laurent Maugoust, with simple yet indulgently chic interiors.
Marble chevron floor tiles, meet corresponding pale ash flooring with pale chalky grey wall paint, which contrasts beautifully with the charcoal grey panelled corridors - this put me in mind of luxuriously dark labyrinths leading to suites of uncomplicated calm, or something like that.
The crowning glory of our stunning suite was the oval gold-tinted mirror which sits proudly above the crisp white leather bed, and I'm still swooning over this right now as I sit at my desk back at home. And despite the damp weather outside, this was my ray of sunshine for the entire weekend!
All Images / Mike Ahern