Postcard: CN Tower

TORONTO -- Greetings from 1,136 feet, or in my mind, hell.
Since the day I arrived in this wonderful city, the CN Tower has been calling my name. On Wednesday, I finally answered it.

I'm afraid of heights, but I knew a visit to the Toronto landmark would make a great postcard, so my visit was as much a personal challenge as it was an assignment.
I was actually quite fine until I realized the elevator that was taking me up the 1,136 feet in 58 seconds had glass windows. As the ground beneath me disappeared, I was overtaken by fear. I actually turned my back and faced the non-glass part of the elevator so I didn't have to look outside. I was scared and embarrassed, and didn't feel any better when the elevator operator told me that some people actually go into the fetal position on the floor on the ride up.
But once I got to the Look Out, I was happy I made the trip. The 360-degree view was spectacular. Looking north, you get a wonderful view of downtown and the Air Canada Centre. Looking east, you get an incredible view of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands and tiny Billy Bishop Airport, where I will fly home from once the World Cup is over.

It was breathtaking. Toronto is a great city from ground level, but it's even more beautiful from 114 stories up.
The biggest attraction at the CN Tower is the Glass Floor, which is exactly what it sounds like: a see-through floor 1,122 feet above Toronto. It took me a few nervous minutes to step from the carpeted area to the Glass Floor, but I'm glad I did. It was spectacular. It's one thing looking out a giant window to see the world below you, it's another to look straight down.
My only issue was getting proof I was on the Glass Floor. I asked a woman to take my photo, stressed to her it had be a horizontal shot so I can put on NHL.com, but she kept taking vertical pictures. I finally did what any good tourist would do and paid for the pictures taken by SharpShooter Images at the CN Tower.

The Glass Floor would be as far as I would go on the CN Tower. There is an attraction called Edge Walk, where people put on harnesses attached to an overhead safety rail system, walk outside and actually lean over the edge of the tower.
I get nervous just thinking about that.