Spectacular Rome Guide

We have just returned from two weeks in Italy that included Tuscany and Rome. This was our fifth trip to Rome in the last eleven years and we've taken two prior tours of the Vatican. The first tour was with Rome Odyssey in 2009 - we had a group tour and unexpectedly had to wait in line due to a snafu. The guide (I wish I could remember his name) was wonderful, informative and made the hours in line pass quickly. It was a great tour that we've talked about fondly over the years and always recommend Rome Odyssey. We were in Rome again last year (2015), and coincidentally some friends were stopping in Rome on their way to a cruise of the Greek Islands. The night before their Vatican tour, we decided to join them. Their tour had been booked through a travel agent and I don't even remember the name of the tour company. The tour was adequate, but nothing like the amazing tour we had had in 2009. This year, a friend was celebrating several milestones -- her 60th birthday and her retirement - and we encouraged her and her husband to join our trip to Italy, which was a longtime dream of hers. We decided this was one of those "splurge" occasions that Rick talks about. We got in touch with Rome Odyssey and booked two private tours on the same day -- the Vatican (3 hours) and the Borghese (2 hours.) Our guide, Marle Robinson, met us at the Vatican early in the morning and we went directly in. Marle quickly assessed our interests and level of knowledge about art and history as well as religion. The four of us are three lapsed Catholics and an agnostic (cultural) Jew. Marle showed us ancient artifacts from Rome depicting the connections between Roman paganism, Judaism and early Christianity from an academic perspective. We ate it up -- her choices of what to show us fed our curiosity and sparked one of the most intellectually and culturally fulfilling days I've had in my life. We saw many things we had never seen before, and we saw favorites from earlier visits (I could look at Raphaei's Assumption for hours.) Marle set up our Borghese tour from the first moments we entered the Vatican and tied the day together beautifully. Marle was extraordinarily generous with her time and spent the entire day with us (we were lucky her schedule allowed) -- she was charming and funny in addition to being a wealth of knowledge. We ended the day with a cocktail and toasted to our good fortune in meeting each other and having a truly wonderful experience. I'll mention here that Marle is a certified Rome guide -- an arduous, academically rigorous process. As many travelers know, it isn't the things/souvenirs/items you take home with you, but the memories you take home that mark a successful trip. I can honestly say without a doubt that this was the single best day I've spent traveling in six trips to Europe in the last eleven years. There are two things, however, that I wish we had done differently: One -- that we had done the Borghese on a different day - even for an art lover like me it was a bit much by the end of the day. Two -- that we had booked a private tour of Ancient Roman sites with Marle! I will look forward to that on our next trip . . . it seems throwing coins in the Trevi fountain always works. Hope your trip is just as amazing!