jabez

We also enjoyed Nero's Golden House ,but were able to go without reservations. We had to wait a few minutes for the English tour, but it was interesting. If you plan this on your Forum/colosseum "day" it's very doable. Also stop at St. Peter in Chains .It's a church near there. The prison (dungeon)where St. Peter and Paul were held is just above the forum as well.
Not to be missed is the Scavi tour of the Vatican.
We did A LOT in our 7 days there this year, but still didn't have time for many things we still want to see.
Can't wait to return for another week (next April or May).

rshersnow

I did a tour with Appian Way tours to Naples/Pompei in May. The only reason I did it was because I have always dreamed of seeing the Pompek ruins since I was a child. The tour bus stopped at an Autogrill with about 20 other tourist buses and drove though Naples to a "cameo factory" before finally getting to the Pompei tour. Although the tour was done very well and was informative, I would not do the Naples part again. It was not that interesting to me and I was particularly annoyed at being dragged to the tourist traps that were just uninteresting to me. If you can manage the transportation, the ruined city is very much worth the trouble. Also, I agree that you have too much time in Rome. We had 3 full days and saw plenty of the ancient ruins and buildings. We went on to the the Marches, the Adriatic coast from there which was the best part of our trip and then on to Florence for 3 days without ever feeling rushed.