Downriver along Decatur, the specialty shops of the restored French Market , said to be on the site of a Native American trading area and certainly active since the 1720s, sell tourist knickknacks; for stalls, head towards the old Farmers' Market , just off Decatur on N Peters Street, where fresh produce, spices, hot sauce and the like are sold around the clock. Next door, the weekend flea market is full of bargain oddities, as are the funky thrift and rummage stores opposite on Decatur.
The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park Visitor Center (Wed-Sun 9am-6pm; free), hidden away in the French Market, is a must for music fans. Though the National Park itself is still a twinkle in its planners' eyes, the center's light, airy room is a superb, informal place to attend the frequent concerts and workshops, with good acoustics and an intimate scale; afterwards, check out the rare photos, information sheets and the bookstore .
Continuing downriver, you'll come to the outer boundary of the Quarter, Esplanade Avenue , an exquisite, oak-shaded boulevard lined with crumbling nineteenth-century Creole mansions. Part of the state museum, the Old US Mint , on the 400 block near the river, houses the understated Jazz Museum , which traces the history of the music that New Orleans calls its own through photographs, sheet music, old letters - among them a pencil-written fan letter to pianist Armand Hug from a ten-year-old Harry Connick Jr - and posters. The highlights are, of course, the musical instruments, whose battered, well-worn contours are enough to bring tears to the eyes of any jazz buff. There are some real treasures here: among them a bugle played by the young Louis Armstrong while learning his craft at the Waif's Home; Kid Ory's trombone; Sidney Bechet's soprano sax, and a beautifully engraved horn played by Bix Beiderbecke.
Across Esplanade from the Quarter you come to arty Faubourg Marigny , a low-rent area of Creole cottages. Though the Faubourg is gentrifying, and its bars, coffee shops and restaurants are expanding further and further beyond the Quarter, it's best not to wander too far beyond the blocks around Decatur and Frenchmen, the district's main drag. Even Elysian Fields - the street where Stanley and Stella lived in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire - can feel distinctly dodgy, despite its heavenly name.
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