Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen
With her harbour lights, that she wears at night
Like a golden, golden crown
Bakken, Copenhagen
Unlike Tivoli, which is refined and a bit high in the instep, Bakken is a working man’s amusement park. You take the S train to the
end of the line, walk a kilometre and you come into a smallish amusement park made up of restaurants, bars, games and a few rides. It used to be the King’s hunting grounds and you can still see some remnants, like the long, tree lined driveway up to the gates of Bakken.
Peter Lieps Hus, Closed, Bakken, Copenhagen
Kro platter
Peter Liep’s Restaurant was closed ( I really have to get a new press agent), so we headed into the park. Most of the restaurants were burger and non-danish food. Then we found Valentino (?!) which served old school kro platters. Instead of getting individual open faced sandwiches, all the delicacies are artfully arranged on a platter, served with bread on the side. All you have to do is butter the bread and lift the delectables onto the bread.
The Platter
So here’s what was on the platter: pan fried filet of plaice with a small stack of shrimp and remolaude sauce, liver pate with sautéed mushrooms and bacon, 2 types of cheese, ham topped with Italian salad, chicken salad with white asparagus and, of course, herring – 2 types – curry and white.
As anyone knows, an akvavit is in order when you have a kro platter. Agent J noticed the menu said the glasses were only 2 cl. “That doesn’t sound right,’ he said.
The Entertainment
Our waiter was a brilliantly old school, crusty kinda waiter.
Agent J pointed out the mistake on the menu. “It should be 4 cl snaps”, he said. “Well you have to ask if you want one for both legs,” said the waiter. It’s an old Danish thing, you always drink 2 snaps, never one. You need one for each leg otherwise you will be walking lopsided.
When we finished our dinner, Agent J told the waiter we’d be back. “Just my luck,” the waiter said. “Here I took this nice summer job so I could hang around and relax. Then people like you keep coming back.” With that he took our plates and left us the bill.
Bakken is mostly cafés, bars, games with a few rides thrown in. The games are brilliant. Instead of crappy stuffed animals, you get 2 kgs of chocolate or huge bags of chips. Agent J headed into a bar called the Haystack. We sat on the outer patio and watched the people go by. There was definitely some rougher characters that obviously had spent many nights in Bakken, but it’s still lots of fun to hang out in.
Ice Cream? Meh.
I will mentioned that I had a really crappy ice cream at Bakken. Not everything can be perfect.
Bakken Ice Cream Bar. Not great.
The Outing
The next day we promenaded around Faelledparken along with the rest of Copenhagen. Everyone is so civilized. A glorious Saturday morning and everyone is out, listening to music, playing games, sitting by the fountain and just relaxing. Loved it.
After that, it was back on the train / bus / train / train to Kolding.
A short but sweet visit to Copenhagen.
