tower for one

Germany, 1933. The SS and the von Essenbecks, a family of wealthy steel industrialists, are allies. The Baron von Essenbeck is murdered in his bed - an inside job - so that one nephew can rise to power, and an uncle to fall into disrepute. And its all dubbed over in Italian from the original German with added English subtitles. This was a two and a half hour disaster on film entitled "The Damned" (1969). The movie was mostly about how very well-dressed people living in a castle are willing to engage in the most immoral acts you can imagine. Collusion with Nazis, murdering relatives, and certain Oedepal themes I won't mention are some the lingering memories I have of an otherwise forgettable film. However, there was one gem of a scene in which after a hard night of hedonistic partying by a group of Nazis, another group of Nazis massacred all of them as punishment.
Sadly, this was not the worst part of my day. Earlier I had tried to go up to the top of the YMCA tower, which affords a great view of the city, or so I hear. It was to be my reminder of why I like living here. But I was informed that I could not go up to the tower because at least two people must ascend at a time. Why? - security reasons that were not made clear to me. This leads me to another issue - that of the relationship between security and paranoia in this city. But I'll save that for another time. For now, I will just say that this was like going to a restaurant, embarassingly asking for a 'table for one' and the maitre-d' refusing because it wouldn't look symmetrical.