These pictures show where the tour began, once I got settled in to Prague. It's Franz Ferdinand's castle, about a 45-minute train ride from Prague. For the centenary of his assassination, the museum had a display called "Together in Life and Death," about him and his wife Marie Chotek. Konopiště is also where I begin my narrative, having a late lunch in the restaurant of the complex with two Australians I met on the train.
That first chapter also states the goal of my journey: to travel to as many of Austria-Hungary's successor state while observing the commemorations of the events that led to WWI. I'm also in Europe to meet old friends and relive old times. I also recall Jewish-Austsrian writer Stefan Zweig's memoir The World of Yesterday, and how the Great War led to that world crumbling during Zweig's lifetime.