The weather forecast was calling for rain all day, so we decided to spend the day in Toronto. Toronto is a large, ethnically diverse city situated along Lake Ontario’s northwestern shore and the provincial capital of Ontario, Canada. It is a dynamic metropolis with a core of soaring skyscrapers headed by the iconic CN Tower. Toronto is a leading international center of business, finance, arts, and culture.
The Falls view was beautiful this morning as always, but it looked like rain was about to begin. We started our 1.5 hour ride to Toronto right after a nice breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant.
Our to-do-list in Toronto consisted of one item: CN Tower visit. Like spotting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the CN Tower is hard to miss in Toronto. According to Wikipedia, it is now the 3rd tallest tower in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, a signature icon of Toronto’s skyline, and a symbol of Canada. The abbreviation (CN) was eventually expanded to Canadian National Tower or Canada’s National Tower, neither of which are currently used.
Toronto is a modern city.
We have arrived at the CN Tower entrance. While the CN Tower remains the major radio and television transmitter for the area and an important communications hub, today its most profitable function is as a tourist attraction. An exhibit at the Tower stated that 2 million visitors come here each year.
The CN Tower as seen from its base. The glass stripe in the middle of the tower hides high speed glass-fronted elevators with a view from 346m (1,136 ft) straight down through two glass floor panels in each elevator racing upwards at 22 kilometres (15 miles) per hour.
Our journey started at the CN Tower visitor center. This typical Canadian moose in fancy dress greets guests first.
Below is a Gift Shop with a huge variety of things to buy, from pencils and pens, various statues of the tower, clothing such as caps, t-shirts and sweat shirts etc. There is also a cafe area.
In 58 seconds we were delivered by elevator to the Look Out level or the Observation Deck at a height of 346m (1,136 ft). The Look Out level offers breathtaking views, the revolving Horizons Restaurant and many souvenir photo opportunities.
The City of Toronto as seen from the Observation Deck of the CN Tower. Here is a view of the west half of Concord CityPlace and towers along Fleet Street near Old Fort York.
Beautiful autumn colors! Toronto has large parks and numerous green areas.
The L Tower, a stand-out building below, is the evolution of 21st century living. An iconic landmark designed by celebrated architect Daniel Libeskind, the residential tower rises 57 stories and is home to 600 suites, graced with high-end luxurious features and finishes.
I don’t know what this building is, but it has an unusual design.
Office buildings in the Financial District as seen from the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario. This area known as ‘SoCo’ (South Core) – Toronto’s mini-Manhattan.
The next tallest building in Toronto, after the CN Tower, is The Bank of Montreal (BMO) – the white building shown in the photograph below. The BMO building is also home to various television and radio transmitters. The brown skyscraper is the Scotia Plaza.
More views of Toronto from the Look Out level.
One level down from the Look Out level we found the Glass Floor and the Outdoor Sky Terrace at a height of 342 m (1122 ft). According to the CN Tower web site, the Glass Floor has been specifically designed for guests to have fun on it, to walk or crawl across it, sit on it or even jump on it without fear of breaking it. The floor glass is five times stronger than the required weight bearing standard for commercial floors. It can actually withstand the weight of 35 moose.
The CN glass floor view all the way down to the bottom.
The Outdoor Sky Terrace is encased in a wire mesh, but we could feel the breeze at 342m (1,122 ft) above the ground.
There is also the recently launched extreme attraction EdgeWalk. As terrifying as it sounds the EdgeWalk is literally a walk around a rail on the edge of the tower. As stated by the CN web site: ”It is the world’s highest full circle hands-free walk on a 5 ft (1.5 m) wide ledge encircling the top of the Tower’s main pod, 356m/1168ft (116 stories) above the ground.” It was too cold and windy for the open high walk today, so we didn’t experience this attraction. Next time we will definitely do it. Here is a visual comparison between CN Tower, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty (from the web).
Travelling 33 floors further up from the Look Out level, we reached Sky Pod, a 360 (covered) walk around the top in the Observation Deck. Waiting for the elevator to the Sky Pod.
The Sky Pod view from a height of 447meters (1465 feet).
The sticker in picture below made us laugh. I guess, it means “Don’t Climb.” Really?
It was getting darker. We spent quite a bit of time in the CN Tower.
I like the light reflection in the water through the clouds in this picture.
It’s time to leave the CN Tower. It was nice walking around the observation deck, enjoying the view without the crowd.
The last thing we did before leaving the Tower, watched The Red Rocket movie, 14-minute electric trolley journey through the vibrant heart of metropolitan Toronto. It is pretty interesting movie about Toronto’s transit history.
Just another city view on our way out from the Tower.
There is the sculpture “The Audience” by Canadian artist Michael Snow near the CN Tower, which is part of the famous Rogers Centre (SkyDome) stadium with a fully retractable roof that can be opened or closed in 20 minutes.
It was getting dark on the streets of Toronto on our drive back to Niagara Falls.
Entering Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls met us with rain. This street looks like a mini Las Vegas to me. 🙂
Then, we had a nice dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
Food was very good there (especially sautéed mushrooms), but very overprized. Actually, it seemed to us that everything was more expensive in Canada than in the U.S.
The rest of the evening we spent sitting in the comfortable chairs in front of the panoramic windows in our hotel room and enjoying the beautifully illuminated Falls view. We had a nice day. I enjoyed Toronto, it is a pretty city!
