Is it possible to purchase tickets to the Vatican Museum and/or the Colosseum ahead of time or the internet and avoid the long, long lines? Or can anyone suggest another way to speed this process up?
go up to the blank field next to "search" on this page and type in Vatican Museum prepaid tickets. You should get lots of info. Also in the guidebook. You can do the same for the colosseum question. Good luck.
You'll get a lot of information about this if you purchase a RS book on Rome. It explains how to avoid long lines at the Colosseum and also talks about how to get tickets to Vatican Museum, although avoiding lines there is fairly futile.