Built on Railway Lines, CN tower is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Canada. It was the world’s tallest building and tower until Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower. Now being the third tallest tower in the world, it is also the signature icon of Toronto’s skyline and symbol of Canada. Let us know more about the tower which attracts almost 2 million tourists annually and is the biggest landmark in Toronto.
1. Name
‘CN’ in CN Tower originally stands for Canadian National, the railway company that built the tower.
Source: wikipedia, Image: bnn.ca
2. Top 3
The CN Tower Toronto is still within the top 3 of all the towers in the world. It precedes below the Canton Tower in China and the Tokyo Skytree.
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3. Not Difficult to Spot
The CN Tower is the biggest landmark in Toronto and can be seen more than 29 miles away. For example, If you stood on Lake Ontario’s shore, you could still see the tower gleaming without the use of binoculars.
Source: traveladvisortips.com
4. Lightning
The tower averages 75 lightning strikes per year. Long copper strips run down the tower to grounding strips to prevent that damage lightning has to procure.
Source: wikipedia
5. Zooooooom!
The elevator will take you to an observation deck in no time (58 seconds!!!) It runs at the speed of 22km per hour.
Source: wikipedia
6. Not Really a Building
The tower was not built by the intentions of having floors in it. Though, it still has a restaurant and many observation levels, it’s not really a building!!!!!
Source: sites.google.com
7. Why Was it Built?
Let’s plunge a bit deeper. The designers needed to complete this tower because there were too many buildings and skyscrapers in downtown Toronto. This hindered telecommunication efforts. They designed this tower to soar above the rest and provide exceptional transmission with zero interference.
Source: traveladvisortips.com
8. The Popular Restaurant
The restaurant at the top of the sky pod is a 360 degree or revolving restaurant. It completes a round of uninterrupted Toronto views in 72 minutes.
Source: wikipedia
9. Seven Wonders
In 1995, CN became one of the seven wonders of the world.
Source: wikipedia
10. Niagara View
It is possible to view Niagara Falls from the sky pod.
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11. Antenna
Back in 1975, an antenna was added to the tower. The antenna helped to add the extra feet to make it the tallest tower, at the time. In addition, the temperature varies from the bottom of the antenna to the top by approximately 10 degrees.
Source: traveladvisortips.com, Image: wikimedia
12. Loyal Gathering
The CN Tower is the only one of the Toronto tourist attractions that has loyal gatherers. During the month of October every year, the United Way sponsors their stair climb for charity. Thousands participate in climbing all 1776 steps.
Source: traveladvisortips.com, Image: torontosun.com