Ok. Now the big attraction in Toronto is the CN Tower. And when I say big, I mean big. Well, actually I mean tall. It’s very tall. In the last couple of years it’s been overtaken by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but until then it was the tallest building in the world. Actually, it being overtaken may cause some problems. The signs pointing to the CN tower say something along the lines of “this way to the top of the world”. Presumably they will have to be moved round to point to the airport.
However, although it’s very tall, and really rather pretty, it doesn’t look tall enough to be the tallest (or second tallest) building in the world. I imagine that being something you can barely see the top of. Perhaps it’s partly because it’s surrounded by lots of other tall buildings makes it stand out less. If it was the only structure above 2 stories, maybe it’d seem more incredible.
Speaking of other tall buildings, many of them have signs by them saying “Beware of falling ice”. This raises two questions for me. Firstly, what are you supposed to do about it? Walk with your head constantly looking upwards? That’d be pretty dangerous in itself, not to mention slightly impractical. Secondly, what exactly is the risk of being struck by falling ice? Do Canadian news programmes feature segments where the newsreader says “17 people were killed today on the streets of Toronto by falling ice. Experts explain this relatively low figure by saying that police advice to wear steel helmets whenever you go outside is being listened to.”
Also went to the distillery district, which isn’t as riotous as it sounds. Instead it’s some very attractive, old-fashioned Victorian red brick architecture which has been converted mainly into arts spaces. I really liked it. Obviously Toronto isn’t going to have medieval buildings, but even fairly recent historical architecture can be interesting as long as its sensibly adapted. Unfortunately, it’s a little too far from the centre for many people to just drop in on, and not quite big enough to be worth an excursion to, so I suspect it’s fairly quiet most of the time.
So much beauty out there 