Are guided tours in English available at the museum at various times during the week, or is everyone on their own ?

I don't know anything about guided tours, but most of the galleries are provided with laminated information boards which you carry around with you while you're in that gallery. They have tons of information, and come in several languages, including English. There are also Louvre guidebooks available in English, in addition to the free flyer which comes in several languages, including English. So, regardless of whether you take a tour or not, there is English-language help available.

They have guided tours during the <BR>week. I would visit the website or <BR>call ahead for specific times. The one I went on covered the "highlights" and a few other pieces, but we pretty much RAN from exhibit to exhibit. Unless you only have a short amount of time in the museum/city, you'd be better off buying a good book at the museum or headphones.

To follow-up on the mention of headphones, there are acoustiguides. <BR>For info try <BR>www.louvre.fr

watch out ! It's twice as big as the metropolitan in NY -or more ?-, so a tour must discard a lot of it. Look for a specific one on the topic you like. And if you really like it, and are less then 25, buy a years pass to get there every day you want at any time without queuing.

You might want to pick up the Knopf guide to the Louvre. Very comprehensive and full of interesting information. Be advised that they change things around often, though. We used the headsets with the taped tour, but didn't enjoy it much.