Alright, it isn't as exciting that you (or I) had hoped. I actually left for Rome to go to Capri and Naples and Pompeii for a few days and returned (safely) to Rome. SO that takes care of that.
I have not unfortunately fallen in love in Rome -numerous Italian women I see on the street every day not withstanding- as of yet.
What I like about Rome:
I do have to say that I really love the city. It is one of the places I have been that I have almost immediately fallen for (Paris and Lisbon being others). It reminds me of San Francisco with more buzz and excitement and sensual energy (um, a lot more of that).
It is a city of incredible beauty and history and excitement. The touristy things are great (colliseum, pantheon, st peters basilica, vatican museum, etc.), and just the neighborhoods and the cafe culture are great as well. I also found a great contemporary art museum (Mueseo Arte Moderne) in a beautiful location in the park Villa Bourgese.
The food is fantastic just about everywhere. You can get fairly cheap but incredible pasta and pizza in numerous places in Travestere and Campo De Fiori.
The Romans I met in Lisbon took me out to a fantastic dinner at the type of place that tourists would never know about. There was not a sign out front, were no menus, and all locals. We had a fantastic dinner, I had the best bruchetta I have ever had and then had a simple pasta of olive oil, garlic, goat cheese and wild boar (yes, wild boar!) which was just great.
The nightlife is terrific. Every night you can go to Campo De Fiori and find numerous italians and expats swarming the bars and nightclubs. There are good cheap wine bars everywhere, and you can get decent beers at a good price.
It's also a very walkable city. I walked for countless miles with sore feet just admiring the great arcitecture and cool little neighborhoods.
What I don't like about Rome:
The infrastructure is crap. For a 3,000 yr old city, you would think they would have ample opportunities to get things right. Outside of Nero having the aqueduct system replaced with lead plumbing, the Rome metro has to be a close second in ill conceived projects..
The metro has 2 lines for a city of 3 million people. To contrast this, Barcelona, a similar sized city, has 6 lines. The cars are not air conditioned, are packed, and smell. The ticket machines never work and there are never people selling tickets anywhere. You have to time stamp the tickets in machines that are often broken. Many times I took my chances without a ticket out of frustration. The bus system is just as bad.
The drivers are insane and you will get killed if you aren't always alert. There aren't many traffic lights for astethic reasons and the ones that are there are often ignored.
The men are better looking and more put together than the women. There is just something inherently wrong with two men spending an entire saturday shoe shopping and getting their hair done then going to a tanning salon (yes this happens).
Many people in Rome can have a tendency to be shallow and vapid. Appearance is more important than anything there (Think Marina in SF but much better looking and more stylish than just seven jeans and jimmy choo shoes).
Rome is very provincial and isolated. People aren't extremely accomodating and welcoming to outsiders- so as a result Rome is not cosmopolitan at all. It is a city that really could be much greater if it would be more welcoming to others and not so closed-minded. You can't really find good ethnic foods here since there aren't any ethnic people.
Despite these shortcomings, Rome is a great city and one I think I could live for a certain amount of time. I spent 3 days there and then returned for 3 more days later since there was so much to see. I would like to spend more time to really soak it all in.
Well, I'm heading out to Brindisi tonight (east coast) for a ferry to Greece in about 3 hours. That's not much time to fall in love, so maybe I will just wander around on the street for a bit.