Before I step foot on the Rennsteig, I am alerted to the throwback I will experience in Thuringia. I am in a unified Germany, but salient is the fact that I am traveling from the former West to the former East. I am not feeling nostalgia for better days, but the vibe of the Gotha station alerts me to what I am missing, the inner discomfort of daily life. The station is clearly rundown, in need of care, cash, and a bit of maintenance. However, I love the simplicity, the lack of artifice, its charming decrepitude. I am only passing through for a train transfer, which happens without a hitch, but I cannot help compare the developed eyesore of a station I have travelled from with the quiet and tired patterns found in this little outpost. The twenty minutes I spend here are insufficient.