CN Tower
 

I'm sat looking out of my window at a rainbow of different colours flying up and down the CN Tower. Some look good others look positively tacky. I always wondered why Canada's famous landmark wasn't illuminated at night but is this going a little too far?

I think white would be good...using different colours to mark different occasions similar to the Empire State Building in NYC. What are your thoughts?

Re: CN Tower
 

When I last saw the CN Tower in person, the base was dark at night which looked rather eerie. So they're now colouring it up a bit eh?

I think regularly throwing coloured light on that big a tower would drive the people who live near it crazy. :blink: There are loads of condos that are close to the tower.

Re: CN Tower
 

We are right by the tower and it is very distracting...similar to the Christmas chasing lights going up and down the elevator shafts. At the moment they are red, white and blue...but it has been purple, yellow and green. :blink:

I suppose I could always close the blinds. :D

Re: CN Tower
 

Yes there's that. :D

Red and white.... Canada Day is coming up soon. Purple, yellow and green sound like they are practising for Mardi Gras on a summer Thursday!

I sure do hope to get up that way again sometime soon. Not too long ago, SARS really ruined tourism. I hope it's picked up again since.

Re: CN Tower
 

When did the CN tower become Canada's landmark? :confused:

Re: CN Tower
 

Before I came here. It's an interesting question though, if not that, what would be?

Niagara Falls is half-American.

Parliament is a copy of one somewhere else.

The Olympic Stadium in Montreal maybe but it has a bit of an unfortunate history.

Re: CN Tower
 

Perhaps it's how people in other countries view it?

It has always been Toronto's CN Tower to me, and I don't believe I'm in the minority on this.

Not at all sure we need one particular item.

Do the UK or the U.S. have one national landmark?

Does it have to be man made?

What are the criteria and who set the rules?:confused:

Re: CN Tower
 

It's the National Igloo, innit?

http://www.placeandthyme.com/000595.php

Re: CN Tower
 

So what do I know, I stand corrected.

CNW Group whoever they are defines the CN Tower as "Canada's National Tower" and it's going to be lit up on June 28th. for the OP's information. ;)

Lighting Canada's National Tower

Re: CN Tower
 

1976? It has been the world's tallest freestanding structure ever since it was built, which I think makes a pretty strong case for a national landmark. And it's in the country's most populous city, which also helps.

Think of France with the Eiffel tower, Australia with the opera house and harbour bridge in Sydney, the US with the Capitol and buildings/monuments on the Mall in Washington, Greece with the Parthenon... national landmarks tend to be significant buildings in major (but not necessarily capital) cities.

Don't know what else in Canada would be so recognisable outside the country - Confederation Bridge? Chateau Frontenac? the Parliament buildings in Ottawa? Lion's Gate Bridge? The Empress Hotel? I think not.

I'd vote for the Big Apple in Napanee (if that's where it is... on the 401 east of Kingston somewhere...). Or the dog-turd-on-a-stick outside the Potato Museum in O'Leary, PEI - now that's a must-see ;)

http://www.peipotatomuseum.com/site/index.htm in case you're interested. Went there on my honeymoon, but mainly by mistake...

Re: CN Tower
 

I've never thought of any of these things as national landmarks but more associated with the cities they are in.

Re: CN Tower
 

We have Pammy. The National Igloos.

Re: CN Tower
 

Well yes, a landmark has to be somewhere - but I'm curious now. I listed those few because they're the mental images that pop into my head associated with those countries. What sort of short-hand imagery do other people have when they think of particular countries? Does anybody else do this at all, or is it all part of what my family derides as my strange obsession with maps and atlases?

Re: CN Tower
 

Dunno about the theory, but big ben (or at least the tower) is it for the UK.

US? Not so sure. Statue of liberty or the empire state building. More to choose from there I guess.

Re: CN Tower
 

Its near colbourne, between cobourg and brighton, and they havent sold a pie in months if the big board is to be believed.

http://www.bigthings.ca/ontario/pictures/apple1.jpg

Re: CN Tower
 

Ive never heard them called that before

http://img.timeinc.net/people/i/2006...andersonq1.jpg

Re: CN Tower
 

To some it's Buckingham Palace, others it's not just big ben but the Houses of Parliament.

The White House?

I see your point, it's just I've never really thought of any of these things as national icons.

Just me I guess.

Re: CN Tower
 

Well, you are still special to us:p

Re: CN Tower
 

Mostly natural items spring to mind for me.

Australia = Ayers Rock (Uluru)
Canada = Rocky Mountains
Europe = The Alps
United States = Grand Canyon
The UK = Lovely green countryside, hedgerows, fields separated by stone walls.
China = Rice paddy's

Re: CN Tower
 

There are, of course, some Rockies in Canada but surely when people think of the Rocky Mountains they think America, and only as an afterthought, if at all, do they think of Canada.

(I'm sure yours are bigger and better and all that but we're talking iconography here).

Re: CN Tower
 

This is the sort of thing John Howard won't let the abo's look at.

Re: CN Tower
 

I always thought of them as canadian first, with the US as an afterthough. The US has enough spectacular scenery to give them up to canada surely. What else does canada have to brag about, half a waterfall, a lot of flatness and the bay of fundy. (I can hear all the non canadian residents going off to google the last one as they all go "the what?")


If you asked people for the first US natural landmark they could think of, I suspect you would get the grand canyon more than the rockies.

Re: CN Tower
 

I do realise that the Rocky Mountains don't stop at the Canada/U.S. border but I think most seem to only think of Canada when they are mentioned. Most likely because they have been used extensively to promote Canada in the past as a tourist destination.

That opinion could be coloured by the fact I was lucky enough to look at them virtually every day at work for 25 years. ;):)

Re: CN Tower
 

What, cultural landmarks:confused:;)

Re: CN Tower
 

Well, the juxta-positioning of the CN tower with those orbs is enough to give anyone troubling thoughts.

Re: CN Tower
 

No. Pammy's Ulurus.

Re: CN Tower
 

Yes, I'm guessing they dont qualify as one (two?) of canadas natural wonders.

Aint nothing natural about them!

Re: CN Tower
 

"Rocky Mountain High", sang John Denver. I doubt he'd been to Canada. I doubt Joe Walsh took the "Rocky Mountain Way" to Canada either. Even "Rocky Mountain National Park" is in the US. Sure, people living in Alberta or BC think of the Rockies being in Canada but I wouldn't imagine people in other countries think so. In any case, a shared national icon is a bit pathetic.

Re: CN Tower
 

And one imagines they're American (or made in China).

Re: CN Tower
 

Where did I say they were a national icon? :confused:

In my reply to Oakvillian's question I was simply stating what comes to mind when I think of different countries I guess I should have clarified that I didn't necessarily see them as national icons.

Sorry if I confused you.

Oh and by the way the people of Alberta and B.C. don't think of the Rockies as being in Canada the know they are.:p

Re: CN Tower
 

I'm glad they've come to the belated realization that BC and Alberta are just part of a larger whole. Would they be willing to consider the magnetic hill as the national landmark?

Re: CN Tower
 

Quite possibly, but who am I to answer for them?

Besides I don't see it or the CN Tower listed as one of the Seven wonders of Canada.:p

http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/

Not that I am in total agreement with the list which apparently is in no particular order by the way.

Re: CN Tower
 

Pier 21 is an odd choice. It's an interesting museum but it's no Ellis Island.

Re: CN Tower
 

A canoe? Wonderful.

Re: CN Tower
 

Blimey, that was worth the effort. Not.

Im surprised poutine and peacekeeping arent on there. Seriously, wheres the Beaver? Indirectly thats the real reason most of us are here.

Re: CN Tower
 

Indirectly? Directly, in my case.

Re: CN Tower
 

The online voting results are slightly more interesting than the judges picks.

http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/results.html


Poutine is there it just didn't make the top seven.

http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/more_wonders_food.html


The Beaver too is there.

http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/more_...s_animals.html

Couldn't find a reference to Peace Keeping.