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The 'O Team' Heads To Copenhagen To Push 'Chicago 2016'

Tomorrow is the big day! On October 2, the Olympic Committee will announce the host city for the 2016 Olympics, and it's a hot race right down to the last minute for finalist cities Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Madrid. These final 24 hours have been particularly important to the decision-making process, as each city flew their star-power spokespeople to Copenhagen, Denmark to make final pleas before the Committee.

While soccer star Pelé did what he could for Rio's case, Chicago's representation was a bit more impressive with both Oprah and Michelle Obama stepping up to the podium to pitch The Windy City. Oprah might rule it these days, you see, but Michelle was born there and remains a Second City gal, even if her residence is now the White House.

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Michelle Obama Begins Locavore Crusade at NYC's Gramercy Tavern

President Obama might be making his first presidential visit to Pittsburgh today for the G20 Summits, but before heading off for some serious work-time, Mr. and Mrs. Obama hit up New York again for a couple days, creating mass traffic confusion, but some actual excitement when Michelle lunched at the famed Gramercy Tavern restaurant.

In all fairness, Michelle had to eat alone since Barack was not in town for tourist activities like usual, but instead addressing the United Nations. Gramercy Tavern is an excellent choice for the First Lady, even if she may have gone because the chef behind the restaurant also catered the UN activities. It is upscale, rather exclusive and hard to get reservations for, and is known for being a cheerleader of American cuisine.

She didn't make reservations...

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Everyone And Obama Kicking Back On Martha's Vineyard This Week

We have truly entered the family vacation portion of summer, what with last week's National Parks free day and the anxiety of squeezing in trips before Labor Day. Although President Obama, Michelle, Malia and Sasha have spent their summer traveling around the world and taking in various tourist sites, they have also been working all the while. Thus, it's even time for the first family to call it quits for a bit and head to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts for some deserved rest and relaxation.

They'll even be renting a summer vacation home for the week-long break, but this isn't some cottage with a leaky canoe; it's the 28-acre, $35,000-a-week Blue Heron Farm on the island's southern edge. With the arrival of the Obamas, Martha's Vineyard has become the late summer celebrity vacation hotspot, as it's reported that the likes of Jay-Z, Beyonce, Oprah, Spike Lee, Pele (the Brazilion soccer star) and even the Clintons are also in town.

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The Obamas Show Us How A National Parks Vacation Is Done

With vacation destinations like Miami Beach or Las Vegas, one wonder if American families are still game to take in natural sights at the once-popular National Parks. Well, there's at least one family that kicked off their summer vacation with little good old road tripping out west, and that's the Obamas. Before they head to Martha's Vineyard for some well-deserved down time, the first family spent this last weekend admiring the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.

Alright, so it wasn't exactly a road trip in the traditional sense, since the family took the Marine One helicopter from the White House to Air Force One to reach the west, but they did hop from one park to another in one weekend, and Obama even brought along his half-sister and her family.

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Buy Obama Some Peanuts And Crackerjacks In St. Louis

Whether or not you're planning one of those tour-the-USA's-major-league-ballparks vacations, perhaps you'll want to add St. Louis' Busch Stadium onto your Midwest road-trip now that President Obama has taken the mound.

That's right, last night during the All-Star game, Barack dressed down in jeans and a Chicago White Sox jackets—yay for repping his home team—and threw the ceremonial first pitch to Albert Pujols of the Cardinals. Although he had warmed up on the White House lawn this weekend and was accompanied to St. Louis on Air Force One with Willie Mays, Obama said of his pitch: "Now, there was no clock on it, I don't know how fast it went - but if it exceeded 30 miles per hour, I'd be surprised, but it did clear the plate."

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The Obamas Make A Solemn Stop At A Ghana Slave Castle

After a happy few days in Italy, making gelato and visiting with antiquity, the Obamas headed south to Ghana for President Obama's first official visit to Africa. It was a solemn trip, and Obama chose Ghana over Kenya—where he has family ties—because of Ghana's dedication to democracy.

The whole family made the trip along with Barack, and Michelle and the girls even accompanied him on a tour of Cape Coast Castle, which, in the 1600s, "served as Britain's West Africa headquarters for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which saw European powers and African chiefs export millions in shackles to Europe and the Americas." It's not exactly a tourist attraction either, unless you're set on re-tracing your own family history through the slave trade.

Obama's visit not only to Ghana but to the slave trading headquarters is poignant; it illustrates, in one stop, how far the world has come in shedding racism and taking up equality.

Related Stories:
· Obama's visit to fort a 'full-circle experience' [MSNBC]
· Dear President Obama [Globe and Mail]
· The Sort-of Return of the Prodigal Son: President Obama Arrives in Accra, Ghana [Obama Foodorama]
· When In Rome, It's Gelato And G8 For The Obamas [Jaunted]
· Presidential Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: AP via HuffPost]

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When In Rome, It's Gelato And G8 For The Obamas

When it was announced that President Obama would make a visit to Rome and The Vatican this week, we couldn't hardly wait to see goodies the Eternal City had in store for them, and Rome didn't disappoint. As the whole family moved on from their museum-hopping in Moscow earlier this week, some casual sightseeing and of course, a few scoops of famous gelato, were in order.

As Barack met with G8 leaders, Michelle quickly took in the Colosseum with her daughters and the Capitoline Museum, which houses ancient Roman art and archeology, with the other G8 wives. Then the adults promptly headed deeper into the Abruzzo region to the town of L'Aquila, which suffered that fatal earthquake back in April.

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More Museums For the Obamas As They Take Moscow

As President Obama continues to tour the world, we love that he's including his family and allowing them to be cultural ambassadors while he's tied up in meetings, like today's talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev over arms control.

While Obama conducts business in the Kremlin, Michelle and the girls are literally down the hall with first lady Svetlana Medvedev, who took them on a tour of famous tourist sites within the palace, such as the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Amory Museum and its 190-carat Orlov diamond. The girls even took tea in the Winter Garden; we are so jealous.

According to the Russian paper Pravda and USA Today, the Obamas might however be sleeping outside of the Kremlin walls at the Ritz-Carlton, since the hotel has suspiciously blocked off reservations for July 5 thru 8. There's yet another clue as to the Obamas' hotel sleeping arrangements: "In its lobby, the Ritz-Carlton installed an over-sized, chocolate statue of an American Eagle and a Russian Bear in honor of the visit." Our jealousy sees no end.

Related Stories:
· US first lady Michelle Obama tours Moscow's Kremlin as summit talks kick off [LA Times]
· President Obama's likely hotel choice while in Moscow: The Ritz-Carlton [USA Today]
· Presidential Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Stringer / AFP / Getty ]

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The Obamas Take Paris: A Guide To Their Family Weekend Getaway

None of that constantly hanging out indoors and sticking to all business for President Obama; his last few stops on a whirlwind tour have included some quality tourist time as he takes in more than just the interiors of conference rooms and embassies.

This past weekend when he swung by France to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, he flew in the whole family for a little interlude in Paris. It was the first visit to Europe for Malis and Sasha, as well as Sasha's 8th birthday.

Before arriving, Obama hinted at his touristic ambitions by saying that "American people love all things French, you've got the food, you've got Paris," and sample the city and its cuisine he and the family did.

To do Paris in three days a la Obama, check out our guide to their hotspots from their visit:

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