Posts Tagged ‘Tower’

The KL tower or Menara in the Malaysian capital is a magnificent place to view the city and get a great view of the huge Pat.. Twin Towers. The tower is actually the city’s highest observation tower, the Twin Towers only offer public viewing from the skybridge linking the towers. Being the fifth highest telecommunications tower after towers in Canada, Russia, China and Iran the structure is a pretty impressive engineering feat. The tower features an antenna reaching 421 metres and viewing pod and revolving restaurant at 276 metres and offers some breath taking views. The tower open-ended in 1996 and has been one of KL’s major tourist destinations ever since. The tower now features a mini zoo with some amazing native animals including reptiles, amphibians and monkeys, a interesting themed snow park complete with cement polar bears, penguins and snow men and some magnificent rainforest including a 100 year old jelutong tree which was saved from construction of the tower.

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The Stade Olympique or Montreal Olympic Stadium was built for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and still today is the worlds tallest inclined tower measuring 175 metres. The tower is recognised as one of the World Federation of Great Towers which includes some of the world’s most impressive buildings.  The structure today is used for special events, concerts and the odd sporting event.   The stadium has had a fairly chequered life, with a huge blow out in original cost . It was expected the stadium would cost in the vicinity of $770 million Canadian to pay off but some much needed modifications and repairs took the final cost to nearly 1.5 billion dollars, and took over 30 years to repay.  The stadium holds around 55000 people depending on the event and the configuration. The attendance record dates back to 1977 when Pink Floyd rocked the stadium in front of over 78000 fans, even Pope John Paul II couldn’t break that record when he visited in 1884 with around 55000 worshippers.  The stadium was planned to be roofed fro the Olympics but time and money.  After some construction problems and a fire the roof was finally put in place in 1987. The roof was retractable but had continual problems with the weight of snow and tearing. The stadium is well worth a look when visiting Montreal- for the history and interesting architecture alone, and there is a pretty good view of the surrounding city from the lookout in the tower.

The CN Tower - Toronto Canada

The CN Tower in Toronto is the tallest structure in North America standing at a huge 553 metres, and was the tallest structure in the world for 31 years until the monstrous Burj Dubai building went higher last year. The tower is basically a communications tower used for broadcasting TV and the like and opened to the public as a the world’s highest lookout in 1976. The tower has two visitor levels one at 346 metres and another one 100 metres higher at 446 metres offering amazing views of the surrounding city and lake, and on a good day you can even see into the USA and Niagara Falls. One highlight of the tower is a glass bottom floor where brave people can see nothing below their feet- it really is a weird feeling. The tower is a member of the Federation of Great Towers and was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

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