tony56,
Your itinerary looks really great too. The only thing is that every one has suggested to me that instead of a day trip to Pompeii a half day tour of Ostia Antica. Enjoy your two week vacation. I wish I could take that much time from work. It'll just have to wait for another time.

CaptCanuck,
Thank you for the suggestion. I'm really hoping that I have time to visit Trastevere. I know it's one of the top places to visit.

GoodLuck Girl,
Thank you so much for all your suggestions. I am definitely going to try to visit the castle of Pope Julius II.

If you are interested in seeing other churches in addition to St. Peter's, there are scads of options. Among others, consider the following:

-St. Peter in Chains (San Pietro in Vincoli). Has the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo inside.

-Basilica di San Clemente. It's somewhat plain inside, but has several layers below ground (earlier versions of worship sites all on top of each other).

-Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Has some gorgeous frescoes inside.

-Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano. Additionally, stop into the Sacred Steps, located across the street, where the devout climb these stairs (supposedly brought over from Pilate's Villa in Jerusalem) on their knees as penance.

-Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. Built on the ruins of a Roman bath, with Michelangelo participating in its construction.

Most are essentially extended pop-ins (15-30 min.), but very interesting to see. Many have extended hours, which makes them easy to fit in before or after a basic 9 am to 5 pm sightseeing itinerary.

Be sure NOT to miss the Pantheon, and the Villa Borghese, ahh the Berninis so breathtaking; if something must be skipped, I'd pass on Trastavere, but it was from 'that' cathedral that our camera was stolen from right between us. The Capitoline Museum is fabulous and this and the Borghese we only got to on our 3d trip to Rome.

Can't stress enough to bring soft cushioned insoles and thick tougher outsoles for walking, you do not want soles that bend-- clogs, Merrells, Dansk, Born worked much better for me than Aerosoles and I would never wear sneakers in Europe (but I am a lady of a certain age...). Since we always walked to dinner too, never wore the to-die-for shoes I brought for evenings only-- duh-- I will never learn. We went in March, so didnt need sandals.

There are so many churches it is hard to choose, but some favorites are Santa Maria sopra Minerva near the Pantheon and the nearby San Luigi dei Francesi with its magnificent early Caravaggios.

In Trastevere you could visit Bramante's Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, with good views of the city. From there you can walk downhill to see Santa Maria in Trastevere in a pleasant piazza with an octagonal fountain.

A thread on people's favorite churches in Rome has many other ideas
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-churches.cfm

Thank you for all your suggestions! I know I'm going to have to make many return trips to see everything. But I think I'm ready to see all my must sees.

Rome First Timer,
We just returned last week. You are going to love Rome! We did pretty much the same first day and we were ok (mom was a little tired). I figured it was a lot of walking and being outside.

You will definitely need good shoes. There were only a few parts of the city that even have level even sidewalks like in the states. At the Colosseum there is a section of rocks set up like cobblestones but they were big rocks with big gaps between them and in most of the rest of the city they were like slate tiles some level, some wobbly, some broken, and some missing. I had a pair of Clark Privos, they weren't the prettiest shoes I own but they were comfortable and I didn't get any blisters.

Do not forget to stop for gelato at least once a day. Have a great trip!