Britzka

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Britzka (horse-drawn carriage)
plac Zamkowy
Warsaw, September 2018

“A britzka (also spelled brichka or britska) is a type of horse-drawn carriage. It was a long, spacious carriage with four wheels, as well as a folding top over the rear seat and a rear-facing front seat. Pulled by two horses, it had a place in the front for a driver. It was constructed as to give space for reclining at night when used on a journey. Its size made it suitable for use as a 19th-century equivalent to a motorhome, as it could be adapted with all manner of conveniences (beds, dressing tables etc.) for the traveler. The great railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel used a britzka, the ‘Flying Coffin’, as his traveling office whilst surveying the route of the Great Western Railway. He carried with him a drawing board, outline plans, engineering instruments, fifty of his favorite Lopez cigars and a pull-out bed. The term is a variant of the Polish term bryczka, a ‘little cart’, from bryka, ‘cart’, possibly coming into English via several ways, including German britschka and Russian brichka." (Britzka, Wikipedia)