NBC

First lady tours national museum, praises Romania on NATO invitation

Bucharest, Romania-AP -- Laura Bush is promising to visit Romania's capital again, saying this trip she saw the city largely from her car's window.

During her time in Bucharest, Mrs. Bush was serenaded by school children singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "America the Beautiful."

The first lady appeared touched by the performance, smiling broadly and clapping in time during the singing.

She also visited a 17th-century palace and museum.

Mrs. Bush saw a collection of antique furniture and toured a room full of bearskin rugs that once belonged to the deposed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (nih-koh-LY' chow-SHES'-koo), who shot the bears himself.

Romania was one of the stops on President Bush's tour of several countries that have been invited to join NATO.