Our choices are Sunday June 7th (free day) or Monday. We plan to spend 3 hrs maximum and there are 3 of us so would be a 27 Euro savings. Would you go on Sunday? If so, would you go right away in the morning, or maybe the last 3 hours (3pm-6pm) to try to avoid crowds as much as possible? At least there wouldn't be lines to buy tickets, but I imagine there are still lines for security.

I went last on a free day about 2 years ago. A friend and I were in line about 20 minutes before opening time. Very impressive line, but we got in quickly and there was no crowd problem inside, at least for us, because we didn't need to see the Mona Lisa again. We were mostly in the Dutch and Scandinavian section, and I can certainly tell you that absolutely nobody is interested in Scandinavian art, because we were all alone.

On our first trip to Paris, we tried to do this but the lines mid day were really long so we passed. But on our last trip, we went in the afternoon and the line was very short and moved quickly. Basically we were inside within probably 5 minutes. It was not too crowded inside and worked fine for us.

I went on the free first Sunday of June 2008. I could not believe the hundreds of people in line. But as soon as the doors opened, we were inside in no time at all. I am still amazed how fast the line moved. Yes, I would do it again.

BACK FROM PARIS, and this response is for anyone else pondering "free Sunday @Louvre," as the OP visited in June.

<b>Use the Porte des Lions entrance!!</b> We entered three separate times on October 4's free Sunday and never encountered another soul, except security personnel.

Of course there was massive congestion around the "big three" but the Louvre is huge and accommodates visitors beautifully. Not to say there wasn't disappointment - the Vermeer I hoped to see is in Tokyo.