But unlike most fairytales, their story unfortunately did not have a happy ending. 

In 1982, Princess Grace of Monaco died from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident, leaving her husband and three children behind. It was a worldwide tragedy. Known as an icon of American style, Grace Kelly is a true princess, an icon. She inspires many and her legacy still lives on today.

Each year in December, the ice hotel is constructed by using a metal dome to collect snow and then actual ice is brought in to assemble the ice hotel structure. It takes about a month to finish the structure. Local art and design students are commissioned to carve designs into the wall of the rooms, which all have different themes. Guests can only check in after 8pm because the hotel gives tours during the day. They must also complete an hour orientation that goes over safety, including the high risk of hypothermia and brain damage, which can occur on an overnight stay if the proper precautions are not taken. 

An overnight stay in the hotel also includes going to the Celsius cabin, which is the only place on the premises that is heated. It also holds the bathroom and locker rooms. Guests use the cabin to change before going out to the hot tubs to relax in the chilly air under the dark Canadian sky before heading to their rooms to go to bed. 

In April, Hotel de Glace is torn down, only to be rebuilt the following December.

This rise in prices has changed the way farmers in Madagascar live. Hired security is obligatory, where the hired men often carry machetes and shotguns. With the growing demand of vanilla, crime has spiked in Sava, a prominent area in Madagascar known for its vanilla bean production. 

Madagascar produces about eighty percent of the world’s vanilla, meaning the industry is heavily protected. Farms have heavy security and every single worker is “frisked” on their way out of work. For stealing one gram of vanilla, an individual can get up to two years in prison. Stealing larger quantities can result in death. A man was caught by a local militia and beaten with sticks and hacked with a machete. The crime is taken very seriously. 

With the rise in popularity of vanilla, a three-tiered system has emerged. The farmers are the first and sell to what is known as the “middle-man”. The middleman buys directly from the farmers and then inflates the prices before selling to buyers who will eventually take the vanilla pods out of Madagascar and disperse them across the globe.

The macaron, a classic french pastry, was first introduced during the Renaissance in Italy. Catherine de Medici brought the recipe over from Italy to France when she married Henry II in the 16th century. The pastry did not gain popularity until the late 17th century and it was not until the 1930s that the macarons were sandwiched with sweet creams and jellies. Originally, the macarons were served plain, and earlier macaron recipes look more like biscuits than wafer-like cookies.

Now, macarons are served in a variety of playful and exotic flavors, with daring flavor combinations that are decorated in beautiful pastel colors. Usually, macarons are made with fine almond powder, egg whites, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar. There are two methods, which have to do with the way the meringue is made. The Italian method differs from the French method in only that hot sugar syrup is poured into the meringue and whisked. Almond flour and sugar is then folded in and food coloring is added before the macarons are set to bake. After they cool, flavored icing, cream, or jelly is piped into the middle and then the macarons are ready to be enjoyed!

Tourists flock to this beautiful city every year as the city offers gorgeous architecture, like the Vielle Ville, a historic cobblestoned road filled with cute cafes and shops as well as terraces with beautiful lookouts and ornate fountains. Another tourist hot spot is Lake Geneva, which is the largest lake in central Europe. With its crystalline blue water, visitors and locals can enjoy this natural beauty by boat or along the Promenade along the river bank, which was built in the 19th century. 

Outside of the city lies Mont Saleve, a popular hub to look out at the beauty of the city that sits in the valley below. If hiking is not your thing, you can take a cable car to the top where the ‘Balcony of Geneva’ is, which is a popular tourist destination because of it’s splendid view of the city and Lake Geneva below. 

On Christmas Eve, french children will leave their shoes by the fireplace in hopes that Santa Claus will come and fill them to the brim with delicious treats and fun trinkets. This tradition is much like the American tradition of hanging stockings up on the mantle. Although France is a mostly secular country, many individuals attend midnight mass at one of the many beautiful cathedrals set in the middle of french towns and cities. After mass it is usually a tradition to have a nice meal that includes chestnut stuffed turkey, goose, foie gras, and oysters.

 One of the more famous literary works produced in France is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This novel was published in 1862 and is considered one of the most important literary works of the 19th century. The novel, which follows a historical base, begins its retelling in 1815 and goes to the June Rebellion in Paris in 1832. As its title would suggest, the novel is terribly tragic as it follows the lives of several characters and their struggles in the world of 19th century France.

Another great literary work by Victor Hugo is the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, first published in 1831, thirty-one years before Les Miserables. It is believed that Hugo wrote this work in an effort to bring attention to the gothic architecture in Paris that was slowly being destroyed. Hugo also wrote Guerre aux Démolisseurs, War to the Demolishers, a few years earlier in attempts to save the Medieval architecture all over Paris. 

Throughout Hugo’s life, he had lived in many different places and served in the political sphere. He was exiled to Brussels for years before he eventually returned to Paris, where he died in 1885. 

Since the year 2000, Belgium has been working on closing the gap in gender pay wages. In 2000, the percent was at 13 percent, in 2005 at 11 percent, and in 2010, 7 percent. Intention government policies have helped the country of Belgium move forward substantially. Another factor to this steady progress is the growth in trade union membership in Europe. About 50 percent of Belgian workers are in some form of trade union, which makes it easier to monitor pay wages and to not discriminate based on gender. According to economists Ivan Marx and Lien Van Cant, ““a clear link can be made with trade union representation” and lower wage gaps.” Trade unions help ensure that women are paid the exact thing as a man for the same amount of work, which is true in the case of Belgium, which is thriving.

The current political problems stem all the way back to 2009 when the country was ran very differently and the economy was in shambles. For the last decade, Madagascar had been in a deadlock, the only, very small, economic growth happened in the largest cities and absolutely did not reach out to the rural areas. 

In the current election, many candidates are vying that they can change Madagascar’s current economic state and move the country forward again. The current Madagascan president is extremely dedicated in moving the economy forward and even has a program called, Emergence 2030. Although the program has not yet been initiated because the economy is almost frozen at the moment even though the president has brought in investors, he still cannot maintain a parliamentary majority because of the new laws he has passed to block certain individuals from running in the 2018 presidential elections. 

 The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro stands as almost an ironic symbol as the Basilica is named for the Lady of Peace and the country has a history of destructive civil wars. Its most recent civil war ended in 2011 and left the country in dishevel. The country has had an on and off tourist industry between civil wars and the path to recovery after the political instability from the country’s division. Yamoussoukro is known for the Basilica as well as its famous président, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, whose palace housed a lagoon of alligators. Côte d'Ivoire is a beautiful country and when the country calms after civil wars is a popular destination for its pretty beaches along the Ivory Coast as well as its ziggurat structures throughout the country. 

Poutine is traditionally thought to have been created in Quebec during the 1950s at a restaurant called “Le Lutin qui rit”. The name “Poutine” was said to have originated when a customer asked to add cheese curds to his fries and the chef, Fernand Lachance, responded with “Ca va faire une maudite poutine”, which translates loosely to “That’s going to make a dreadful mess”. 

Since then, Poutine has grown in popularity and is served throughout the provinces of Canada. There are now many different versions of the entree, including more gourmet options like a Lobster Poutine, served in Toronto, and a Foie Gras Poutine offered in Montreal. Even Mcdonald's, a global chain has joined the bandwagon and now offers a McPoutine.