Me in the bathrobe mode: Arriving in the SpaSphere of the Vienna House Andel’s Berlin and firstly drinking a tea

A city trip to a city such as Berlin can sometimes be quite exhausting. Sightseeing and miles of running around, plus the permanent noise level. Phew, that really takes it out of you. My tip: Book a hotel with a spa – like the Vienna House Andel’s Berlin. The advantage is the combination of location near the city and the possibility to retreat in a relaxing oasis, which is equipped with everything to relax for a few hours.

Then I explore the sauna area of the SpaSphere

The Vienna House Andel’s Berlin is located in Berlin-Lichtenberg, less than ten minutes from the center and the vibrant Alexanderplatz. Known for its star restaurant ‘Skykitchen’ on the twelfth floor, also the hotel’s SpaSphere on the second floor offers views over the capital. Anyone who sweats in the Finnish sauna – or as I prefer the moderate temperatures of the biosauna – can enjoy the look over Berlin. For me, by the way, always a big plus, if spas and gyms are not banished into the deepest catacombs and thus benefit from the light of day. Speaking of gym: In the Vienna House Andel’s Berlin, one trains on equipment by TechnoGym. If you like, hop in the large Jacuzzi, or get some fresh air on the roof terrace and then visit the steam room. After that I am ready for a beauty treatment of a special kind.

Silva, the head of the SpaSphere, is my fairy godmother of the day

My fairy godmother on this day is Silva and expects me already with a “Mountain Herb” tea from Ronnefeldt, before she leads me into my treatment cabin. Here I give away, together with my bathrobe, the daily ballast. I am bedded on a wonderfully comfortable – and heated – couch and let myself go for the next 55 minutes of total deceleration. “Velvet and silk” is the name of the treatment for which Silva first washes the body with sea foam, which is massaged into the skin with a peeling glove. With practiced hands and pleasant pressure Silva begins with the legs and then goes up to the back and décolleté. Showering is not required: the vitamin-rich sea foam is removed with moist compresses – and I am allowed to keep lying down.

My skin turns to velvet and silk: a feel-good treatment that should not end. By the way, SpaSphere uses products from Thalgo

The blood circulation of the skin is now running at full speed and is ready for the pack of  maritime algae, jojoba and almond oil, which smells wonderful. The defenses of the skin are thus mobilized, which is quite an advantage in this autumnal season. In the meantime, I have transformed myself into a wrap, thanks to Silva’s packaging arts with tiling and towels. But before I get to see this look, I prefer to leave it in Silva’s care. As the pores of the skin open up and the pack turns my skin into velvet and silk, it gets to your face. A gentle cleansing is followed by a moisturizing mask, which Silva – fascinatingly, because totally in sync – applies with two brushes. In gentle, flowing movements, the substances remaining on the skin are finally massaged in. Then, a day care is applied on the face. And I’m ready for the big city jungle again.  BvH

A look into one of a total of five treatment cabins…

…with beautiful details and candlelight

Info SpaSphere:

The 550 square meter SpaSphere at the Vienna House Andel’s Berlin is open daily from 10 am to 10 pm, on Sundays and public holidays from 9 am to 8 pm. The fitness area is available to hotel guests 24/7. When booking an application SpaSphere and fitness room can also be used by external guests. Towels, bathrobe and slippers are ready for the guest.

Between the sauna sessions, I enjoy the fresh air on the roof terrace…

…before it goes into the bubbling Jacuzzi

A footbath in between brings my circulation up to speed

Relaxed and silky-velvety, I feel after the treatment

Contact SpaSphere:

viennahouse.com/de/andels-berlin

The Vienna House Andel’s Berlin invited me to visit SpaSphere.

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When Caspar Heinrich Count of Sierstorpff acquired the mineral springs in the Westphalian Driburg in 1782, he did so with the intention “to create a place of rural pleasure”.

The fountain arcades – built in 1804 – with the healing water sources

Annabelle Countess of Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff actually always dreamed of a life far away in the big world, after she finished her studies in art history in Berlin and worked for several galleries and museums. But it turned out different: the art historian – who was born in Pakistan and raised in Seville, Barcelona and Essen – fell in love and so ended up in the east of Westphalia. There, in Bad Driburg near the Teutoburger Forrest, her husband Marcus Count of Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff leads the stores of the family business in the seventh generation, consisting out of five convalescent homes, one mineral spring and the “Gräflicher Park Hotel and Spa” (Royal Park Hotel & Spa) with over 1.500 employees. Annabelle, mother of three children, is leading the business communications of the count’s business. Not to forget the special focus on art, that plays a major role in the house of the family.

Annabelle Countess of Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff

MyStylery: When you arrived to Bad Driburg, the city didn’t really have the status of an art-mecca…
Annabelle von Oeynhausen: (laughs): … not really. That’s why my friends literally felt for myself. Today it’s the opposite. In the Diotima community that was founded by myself, we realise art projects and organise readings and concerts. That’s my real passion. The newest project is an observation deck located in a maze, for which Marcus meant, that we could hire a carpenter. With Michael Sailstorfer we could find an international artist for our design. Unfortunately this costs a lot and won’t be realisable without incentives.

View into the Lobby

Modern architecture connects the historic lodging houses

MS: The Count’s Park has long been associated rather as a place of cur than with art.
AvO: Actually the past level was rather like “men in string vests with beer bottles”. The health reform then brought the change. Cures with certificates of illness don’t exist since 1995 and all spa resorts had to reorient. We changed the whole construction eight years ago, back to its original high standards, and we established the Count’s Park to a hotel resort with spa. It was a large construction site for two years. And there’s always something to look after. One’s never done.

Extensively renovated in 2007, the four-star Superior Hotel is now one of the leading spa resorts in Europe

The 1,500 square meter big spa area with an outdoor swimming pool of 25 meters in length

Facials with beauty products by Clarins are offered in the Spa-Suite

MS: What makes your resort “Gräflicher Park Hotel und Spa“ so outstanding?
AvO: When Caspar Heinrich von Sierstorpff, the ancestor of Marcus, founded the hotel in 1782, it was a noble place just from the beginning. Our family leads it now for 233 years. And there exist only a few hotels with a private landscape park of a size of 64 hectare. Isn’t that a paradise?! Meanwhile our hotel counts to one of the best in Europe, considering its F. X. Mayr-Cures and a 1.500 square meters big spa. A steam sauna in the cellar alone doesn’t automatically make a wellness hotel.

More than 30,000 plants are planted each year always in new formations and in springtime also more than 20,000 pansies

The dutch garden artist Piet Oudolf created gardens of perennials and grasses with passable hills for different viewing angles

In the English landscape park with its partially resultant trees from 1782 twelve gardeners are in continuous use

MS: You’re not really the type of hillbilly that seamlessly integrates in a royal family and its special traditions. How was that for you?
AvO: It wasn’t easy to arrive here. We lived in a small house in a forest in the beginning. I missed the big city life. I’m now very happy with my actual living situation, in love with the landscape, the nature and my job. Nowadays I won’t be able to consist the socialising in the city.

Redesigned rooms at the Sierstorpff house come with modern, floral wallpaper and orange-green color accents

The cuddly Chinese-room – my favorite!

How about a spa weekend in the “Gräflicher Park” with accommodation in the “Red Room”? A F.X. Mayr cure should at least be scheduled to ten days

MS: In the beginning you wanted to prove yourself and you were very engaged in the family business. With a positive feedback?
AvO: I was working for ten years without any interruption. When my daughter then went to boarding school, I realised, oh now she’s gone, and I’ve missed her. I then pulled myself back and concentrated more on the private.

The “Caspar’s Restaurant” pampers guests with international dishes. In the morning, breakfast is served here …

… or outside on the terrace, when the weather is nice

The menu of the restaurant “Pferdestall” – stable – offers regional country kitchen

MS: Is there nothing that can bring you out of rage? You seem to be thoroughly relaxed.
AvO: (laughs): Oh for sure! On Easter an employee set up tons of rabbits, which had nothing special and I didn’t like them at all. Creative processes like this one have to be coordinated with myself. BvH

The “Gräflicher Park” is popular for family celebrations as well as for company conferences, product presentations and employee incentives

At bar “Oscars” you can make yourself comfortable by the fireplace

The poets Friedrich Hölderlin and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff enjoyed the effect of the medicinal and mineral springs already 200 years ago – and also the nature of the “Gräflicher Park”

Six lodging houses – each is decorated in a different style – with a total of 135 rooms

For over 230 years, the “Gräflicher Park” is already owned by the family Oeynhausen-Sierstorff

The “Gräflicher Park Hotel & Spa” …

… surrounded by a 64-hectare English landscape garden …

… with its old trees, ponds and a deer park

Contact:
Gräflicher Park Hotel & Spa
Brunnenallee 1
33014 Bad Driburg
Germany

+49 5253 95230
www.graeflicher-park.de

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