The Obama family will bid farewell to Chicago and move to the US capital Sunday after their Hawaii christmas vacation ends, just two weeks before the 44th American president will be sworn in on January 20.
President-elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Sasha, 10, and Malia, 7, will move to the Hay-Adams Hotel.
Built in 1928, the luxury hotel is separated from the White House only by Lafayette Square, a grassy square block.
Obama had requested to stay at Blair House, the government's official guest residence just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, but the Bush administration said it was booked solid through January 15.
Apart from a November 10 White House meeting with President George W. Bush, Obama has largely avoided Washington since his historic election as the first African-American US president on November 4. Most of his time during the transition period was spent in Chicago.
The future presidential family wraps up Thursday their vacation that began on December 20 at a nine-million-dollar rental home in Kailua, Hawaii.
The Hay-Adams has 145 rooms and suites featuring marble bathrooms, carved plaster ceilings and ornamental fireplaces and balconies. Some of the rooms have a direct and unobstructed view of the White House.
A room in the penthouse's presidential suite normally sells for 2,899 to 5,000 dollars a night.
Its lavish room amenities include custom Italian bed linens and towels, goose down duvet and pillows, a Bose CD system with CDs, Fiji water and Etro toiletries.
Obama's agenda is already stacked with items even before the inauguration takes place.
His daughters are to begin the school year in Washington at the private Sidwell Friends School. The new Congress, stacked with a greater Democratic majority, will be sworn in Tuesday.
And President Bush has invited Obama to a White House lunch Wednesday, along with former presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.
Past new presidents have waited until a time closer to their inauguration to move to Washington. The New York Times reported Ronald Reagan waited until six days before he was sworn in and Jimmy Carter waited until the day before his inauguration.
The Hay-Adams has attracted prominent travelers and Washingtonians, including author Sinclair Lewis, actress Ethel Barrymore and aviators Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.
The hotel was named after John Hay, private assistant to President Abraham Lincoln and later secretary of state, and Henry Adams, an author and descendant of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Both men lived at the site.
Copyright 2009  AFP American Edition
