Tour Guide in Rome
 

I will be in Rome in about two weeks with my wife and 2 kids(Boy-12/Girl-15). As we will only be there for 2.5 days,I am wondering whether I should hire a private tour guide to give us an overview on the first day and then do a private tour of the Vatican or just do a Hop On/Hop off Bus tour and arrange a regular tour of Vatican? We will be there on a Saturday through Tuesday. I believe the Vatican is closed Sunday. What tour companies are the best and should I arrange it all in advance?

Just back from first visit to Rome. First get on the hop on hop off bus and you will get a good idea of the city and what you want to see.
Sistine chapel is a most. Do not be put off by the Q as it is long but moves fairly fast.
Vatican is open Sundays and well worth a visit.
Tip: You can rent a radio tape that gives you all the information you require. They are cheap and well worth it. Each item to view has a number and you dial in that number to learn the history.
With 2.5 days you will not see everything.
One piece of info I got before I went there was that beside most historical sites there is a Metro stop. Public transport is very cheap.
Try and get your hands on 'DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides 'ROME'by Bramblett &Kennedy
Enjoy wonderful city.

We spent a wonderful day in Rome with a private tour guide, Suzanne Bono-Lucidi. She's very knowledgable, very engaging, and happy to "customize" a tour for you...and point out things between major attractions that you might have missed. She has a hotmail email account and her email name is "bellasuzi"
We also had the Scala Reale tour of the Vatican, which we would also highly recommend.

Someone in your situation posted a wish list entitled "advice on rome trip", type it in and look at her ideas.