WASHINGTON - Move over Boris and Bill. Make room for Vladimir and George W. The current U.S. and Russian presidents set a new bar for superpower bonhomie at the White House on Tuesday.

A first-time visitor, Vladimir Putin marveled at the floral arrangements in Blair House, the government guest residence where he stayed the night, and the paintings in the White House where he held talks with George W. Bush.

He teased Bush about his Texas roots, invited the U.S. president to experience "White Nights" in St. Petersburg where the sun barely sets in June and July, and toured the Lincoln Bedroom.

Sensing Putin was eager to look around, Bush obliged, showing him the private swimming pool and the South Grounds, including the tree swing where Amy Carter and the Kennedy children once played.

The former KGB spy will also see Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. He and his wife Lyudmila arrive on Wednesday and will be overnight guests.

Before a lunch of artichoke and leek soup, Nantucket bay scallops, pan-seared Poussin with mushroom custard and honey ice cream in the White House Blue Room, Bush again departed from the schedule to give Putin another tour. This time it was the first floor.

"Myself and my colleagues are very pleased to be here at this historic building of the White House," Putin told a news conference later. "And President Bush deemed it appropriate not only to guide me through the premises of this house where he lives."

"We saw almost every picture hanging on the walls of this great building. It's not only very interesting, but it also changes for the better the quality of our relationship."

The two leaders, who had met three times previously but never in the United States, appeared to have an easy familiarity without the backslapping and bear hugs that marked the relationship between their predecessors, presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.

Seated side-by-side in yellow, high-backed chairs in front of the Oval Office's fireplace, the Russian president remarked upon the flowers at Blair House, the government guest quarters where he and his wife spent the night.

"It's an indication of how happy we are to have you and your wife here with us," replied Bush.

Later, the two men addressed reporters in the East Room from two brand-new aerodynamically shaped lecterns specially designed for Bush and built by the White House Communications Agency.

They both declared a brand new era had dawned.

For Bush, it was a "new day in the long history of Russian-American relations, a day of progress and a day of hope." Putin said: "We intend to dismantle conclusively the vestiges of the Cold War."

Bush showed off the art work he had selected for the Oval Office, all of them Texas landscapes.

"Where are the Texas people?" Putin asked, teasingly.

"I'm a Texas person," Bush shot back.

Then the two sat down for an hour-long meeting accompanied by U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and their two Russian counterparts.

While the delegations were waiting in the Cabinet Room to begin an extended meeting, Bush veered from the official plan and steered Putin out the Oval Office's side door.

With interpreters in tow, he gave Putin a tour of the South Grounds on a crisp and cloudless autumn day. They ducked back into the West Wing via a private terrace that leads into the president's hideaway dining room.

In the Cabinet Room meeting, which also lasted an hour, Putin spoke at some length about the importance of completing the mission in Afghanistan. Bush, pointing his finger and thumping his hand on the table for emphasis, replied: "Until the al Qaeda is brought to justice we're not leaving. As great nations, we're the most vulnerable targets."

Then Bush said to Putin, "You're the kind of guy I'd like to have in a foxhole with me." Nampa-Reuters