33 (D-29) Streetcars / Paddle boats / Mark Twain / City of New Orleans

Americans say TRANSPORTATION...
The British say TRANSPORT

1.  Streetcars

The longest of New Orleans' streetcar lines, the St Charles Avenue line, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world.   The earliest public transportation within the city of New Orleans, and between the city and its suburbs up and down the Mississippi River and out to Lake Pontchartrain, began in 1831. They were railway lines and horse-drawn (or mule-drawn) omnibus lines.  (An omnibus is a smaller form of a stagecoach...stagecoaches like you see in Westerns!)  Later came a steam-powered line. There was a lot of experimenting with other forms of transportation until electric-powered streetcars appeared on February 1, 1893.  The wide destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and the floods from the levee breaches in August 2005 knocked all three lines out of operation and damaged many of the streetcars.  The best tour of New Orleans is only $1.25---the price of an adult fare on the city's two mayor streetcar lines.  The shorter Riverfront line takes passengers along the river to the French Quarter's French Market.

Yes, we will! Yes we must! We will take the streetcar.  We must take the streetcar.  It's a New Orleans' experience.

2.  A paddle steamer is a steamship or a riverboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water.  The Belle de Louisville is the oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat (in Louisville, Kentucky.)  In New Orleans, for tourism:  The Natchez IX.  Another, The Delta Queen left Tennessee on March 22, 2015, for Houma, Louisiana (that's where we go next) for repairs and upgrades.  
Do you know how the famous American writer (Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer) chose his pen name, Mark Twain? He worked on the riverboats. He was a steamboatman. He was a river pilot.  (His real name was Samuel Clemens.)  Why  the name "Mark Twain"?

3.  The City of New Orleans.  What is it?
The City of New Orleans is an Amtrak passenger train which operates on an overnight schedule between Chicago and New Orleans!

And yes (!) there is a song:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6s14_highwaymen-city-of-new-orleans_music
"Good morning, America.  How are ya'?" 
But maybe you know Joe Dassin's version?
thttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x36xm2_joe-dassin-salut-les-amoureux_music

We'll take the bus (coach) tomorrow to go to Houma.
Jane
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stagecoach = diligence
fare = tarif
upgrade = making it more modern, improvements
overnight = during the night