Secrets to rising above the crowd

HERE are some insider insights that will make your Louvre visit more enjoyable:

Finding some quiet time: Like cows headed for the barn, people start streaming out of the Louvre every day about 5 p.m., although the museum is open until 9:45 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. There is no better time to tour the museum than on those two evenings when even the usually mobbed Denon wing is relatively quiet and general admission drops to $7 after 6 p.m.

The upside of the museum: At the center of the spiral staircase inside the Pyramid is a cool, open-air elevator for people with limited mobility.

That’s the ticket: Keep your ticket handy because you will have to show it every time you enter a different wing of the museum from the Pyramid and if, after exiting, you want to reenter the Louvre on the same day.

Automatic entrance: Use the ticket machines under the Pyramid, at the entrance to the Carrousel du Louvre mall on the Rue de Rivoli and inside the Porte des Lions on the river side of the museum. They’re fast, have instructions in English and take cash and credit cards.

No flashing: You can take pictures in the Louvre; flashless photography is permitted in most galleries, except on the first floor of the Denon wing.

Saving euros: Youth and professional Louvre membership cards yield big savings for people younger than 26, artists and teachers who plan to make multiple visits to the museum. They are sold at the membership office near the museum shops in the Carrousel du Louvre mall.

Alternate route: To avoid the crowds jammed in front of the “Venus de Milo” (Sully wing, ground floor), sneak up on her from behind by climbing a flight of stairs at the southeast side of the Louvre’s medieval moat (Sully wing, lower ground floor).

Let them eat cake: Have a piece of Pyramid chocolate mousse cake, covered in a chocolate shell and shaped like I.M. Pei’s masterpiece; about $8 in the Cafe Richelieu (Richelieu wing, first floor).

-- Susan Spano