MARCO ISLAND — If time and space could be transformed, guests of “Oktoberfest in February” could have been seated in the dining room of a riverboat exploring the German Rhine.

The transformation Thursday of Marco Island Yacht Club’s upstairs to a pleasure craft had the signatures of Jill and Ewout de Vries and the staff of America Travel. Steins of imported beer never fell empty. Marc-Allen Barker of Viking River Cruises roamed among diners in traditional lederhosen.

The yacht club’s dining staff complemented the occasion with a buffet even the Deutsche would envy: Bratwurst and knockwurst with sauerkraut, veal shanks, hasenpfeffer (German rabbit stew), spaetzle, hot German potato salad, and abundant pastries and cake.

The evening’s crowning event for its 126 dinner guests was a vicarious trip to foreign lands via the magic of screen. Diners were visually transported to prestigious destinations by the largest riverboat company of its kind on the globe.

“Our cruisers spend more time at their destination and less times aboard ship,” said Darren Dolan, director of business development for Viking River Cruises. “That’s because we take you to the heart of a country rather than skimming its coast.”

Riverboat travel varies from ocean line cruising in remarkable ways. River vessels meander through scenic countryside rather than steaming long distances between destinations. Onshore, the group of fewer than 200 passengers blends into towns and hamlets without interrupting the daily flow of local inhabitants.

Most excursions are included in the cost of the trip, so small groups can explore regions of interest; and in some cases, meet the boat downstream rather than trudge back to the same dockage. All passengers are seated for dinner at 7 p.m., but dress is always casual.

“I tell guests to leave their tuxedos at home,” Dolan said. “We want them to be comfortably immersed in the destination’s culture.”

Local color is never far away. Viking brings town musicians and cultural activities onboard in the evenings for guests’ entertainment. One of Dolan’s favorite venues is sailing through the Wachau Valley on the Danube River.

“The chef prepares local dishes and we bring kegs of local beer and locally produced schnapps onboard,” Dolan said. “We also hire accordion players as you sail down the Danube surrounded by castles and vineyards.”

Dolan praised America Travel for its spot as their No. 1 seller of riverboat cruises. De Vries admitted that he has traveled on every riverboat itinerary.

Viking will be christening four state-of-the-art ships in Amsterdam next month.

“The new ships will be different,” said de Vries. “The corridor will be moved slightly to one side allowing larger cabins with balconies. Suites will have two rooms, a living room and bedroom with French balconies and an extra veranda.”

A special suite at the back of the ship allows a 270-degree view of the countryside.

For those who enjoy exotic travel, de Vries will be escorting a trip to the

Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam in October and has four cabins remaining.

Viking sails primarily in Europe on the main rivers of France, Russia, Germany, Austria and Portugal. In Asia, Viking sails in China, Vietnam and Korea. Bookings are generally open for travel from March to December. The company will have 27 riverboats in service by the end of the year.

Riverboat cruises are typically 8-23 days. An 8-day sailing would take visitors to four countries while a 23-day trip could reach as many as nine. Two popular destinations are the 8-day gastronome sailing through the south of France and a northern France trip that includes the beaches of Normandy, Dolan said.

For more information on Viking River Cruises or for reservations, call America Travel at (239) 642-6616.

The era is Prohibition.

Speakeasies are common, and bootleggers quench the country’s thirst for that banned substance, alcohol.

It’s a fascinating piece of American history, an element known here in Lycoming County as well as the nation at large.

When two bottles of Prince Farrington’s Prohibition-era moonshine whisky recently landed on the auction block, local historian Robert E. Kane Jr. wasn’t going to let the opportunity to own one slip through his fingers. Another local man with a passion for historic preservation, Edward Lyon, was the successful bidder on the second bottle.

“This item really appealed to me when it came up for sale,” Kane said, “This item is something he actually touched and was actually his.”

Kane, president and CEO of Divine Providence Hospital, explained the bottle was a valuable addition to his collection of “a couple hundred” bottles, which can have their roots traced back to the area.

The “life-long bottle collector” found himself with the opportunity to be only the bottle’s fifth owner since it was first filled with its illegal contents during Prohibition.

“This passed through very few owners from Prince Farrington to me,” Kane said.

Farrington, the bottle’s original owner, was a bootlegger – one who produced and sold liquor illegally during the years of Prohibition – in Lycoming County.

The second owner of the bottle of moonshine was Harry Lewis Williams Jr., a driver who would deliver Farrington’s illegal packages to the customers. Kane said Williams once spent six months in prison because he was caught with the alcohol.

Williams’ son was the next owner. Kane said the son was a “teetotaler” – someone who doesn’t drink alcohol – and didn’t want anyone to find the bottle in his house when he died, so he gave it to a close friend before it wound up at auction.

Kane said like the journey from Farrington to him, the bottle itself, tells a story of the years of Prohibition.

“This is a pre-Prohibition whisky bottle,” Kane said, “And Prince Farrington used any bottle he could get his hands on.”

Though producing, selling and consuming alcohol was illegal during Prohibition – 1920 to 1933 – the bottle doesn’t hide what it contains, clearly stating it as a whisky bottle on its label.

Kane explained since it’s a pre-Prohibition bottle, the label was made before alcohol was banned.

“Of course he would never put his own labels on a bottle.”

Kane’s bottle collection includes medicine bottles, soda and beer bottles but Farrington’s bottle will add something extra to it.

“Prince Farrington was so much a part of local history, whether it is about illegal activities or the many good things he did, it’s important to the local heritage,” Kane said.

Kane’s interest in local bottles caused him to create his own display of products from a Williamsport brewery.

“One of the things I’ve collected … is memorabilia from Flock’s Brewery,” he said.

The company – started by Henry Jacob Flock – was in business from 1856 to 1954 and located where Lycoming College is today.

“Much of this collection came out of the Kast Hotel in Newberry,” Kane said of the display.

Kane’s collection includes beer steins, mirrors, advertising displays, ash trays and foam scoopers – a tool used in bars to knock the foam off of a glass of beer.

“You have everything from punch sets to lighted clocks,” he said.

In 1943, Flock’s was sold to a group of investors that brought new products to the company.

“They actually bottled things such as soft drinks and it was known as Bald Eagle Soft Drinks and Ales,” he said.

From a local bootlegger to a brewery, Kane’s collection is more about stories of the area than just a piece of glass.

“I think it all tells the story of progression and evolution of not only Williamsport but of the United States at that time,” he said.

Readers of the news of the weird may recall a contest sponsored some years ago by the Guinness beer company in which first prize was a pub in Ireland — title and deed, stools, steins and taps. You needed only to compose a clever essay, throw a few darts and demonstrate that you could pull the perfect pint. Those looking for escape — and unable to find it in the bottom of their mugs stateside — had their opening.

Readers of the news of the weird may recall a contest sponsored some years ago by the Guinness beer company in which first prize was a pub in Ireland — title and deed, stools, steins and taps. You needed only to compose a clever essay, throw a few darts and demonstrate that you could pull the perfect pint. Those looking for escape — and unable to find it in the bottom of their mugs stateside — had their opening.

Readers of the news of the weird may recall a contest sponsored some years ago by the Guinness beer company in which first prize was a pub in Ireland — title and deed, stools, steins and taps. You needed only to compose a clever essay, throw a few darts and demonstrate that you could pull the perfect pint. Those looking for escape — and unable to find it in the bottom of their mugs stateside — had their opening.

Alex PulaskiBrandenburg Gate, Berlin

The biggest question for me in visiting Europe, after figuring out where to go, has always been what to pack.

Not in the sense of clothing and shoes, mind you. Shorts and T-shirts rule the day (unless you’re going to Italy, where they frown on T-shirts at many religious sites).

No, I mean what guidebooks to stuff in your backpack. There’s no point in going if you don’t know what you’re seeing and its layers of history, and I’ve been known to lug pounds of paper over the Thames, up the Alps and into the Vatican.

But that was before smartphones and tablets came along. Suddenly, hundreds of guidebooks and apps are at our fingertips in the same compact package.

So for my most recent excursion, an exploration of Central Europe (Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich) I left behind the paper and loaded up on 21st century guide tools.

Like picking out a guidebook, it takes some time and thought to settle on the right apps for your destination. I ended up buying cityscouter’s offline guide apps ($3.99 each) for Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich.

As a basis of comparison, I also arranged for the low-tech guide option: the personal touch, via guided walks (group and private) in several of the cities. I wanted to measure those real-life guides against the advantages and limitations of high-tech tools.

My techno-guide of choice would be the iPad, kind of oversized for the job, but my choice for three reasons: I didn’t own an iPhone (then), I didn’t want to try to puzzle out maps and text on a 2×3-inch screen, and I had read too many horror stories of consumers being hit with bills into the thousands of dollars because their iPhones racked up roaming and data charges overseas.

We did, as it turned out, pack an iPhone, as much for emergencies as to experiment with an innovative real-time mobile guide in one of our target cities, Salzburg. More on that later.

What I discovered, mostly, is that apps definitely have their limits. Many of those I sampled were poorly written, and weak on discerning the best places to sample the schnitzel or rest your head. But the mapping functions — particularly in big cities –save time, and the apps are pretty good about giving basic info and background. In effect, they were short on enlightenment and entertainment, but decent at informing.

And, of course, they’re easier on your back.

Alex Pulaski/The Oregonian

Berlin

Getting there/around: We used Eurail Passes (eurail.com), the most convenient, pleasant and cost-effective means of traveling between European capitals. Costs vary, depending on type and length of travel, but one thing is constant: ease of use. On most trains there’s no need for reservations or standing in line. You just grab a seat and wait for the conductor to come around. Plan right and most destinations in Central Europe are just a few hours apart. A tech note: I downloaded an app (Train Schedules Europe, $3.99) on train timetables thinking we’d be on the cutting edge. But the reality we discovered is that the printed timetable guide that comes with your Eurail Pass is easier to understand and isn’t bulky. Once in Berlin, the efficient underground system is your best bet; wear comfortable walking shoes — it’s a big, big city. Watch out for cyclists — they are intent on getting somewhere, and impatient with pedestrians in their path.

What to see: Begin your stay in Berlin (as Napoleon did in 1806) by passing through the massive Brandenburg Gate.

“You enter Berlin as a temple,” private tour guide Markus Muller-Tenckhoff told us. “People come to Berlin for a new chance, new possibilities.”

Though there remain ample opportunities for gazing backward — remnants of the Berlin Wall, the tourist-choked border crossing of Checkpoint Charlie, the moving Memorial to Murdered Jews — the pace of Berlin’s changes is so dizzying that you feel the need to jog to keep up. So spend a day or two soaking in the history, strolling through Unter den Linden or taking in the magnificent gates at the Pergamon Museum.

But don’t miss the dynamism of present-day Berlin, with its cutting edge architecture (Potsdamer Platz), pleasant strolling districts (Scheunenviertel) or endless shopping (KaDeWe — for the food court alone — or along Friedrichstrasse, to name just two).

Guide preferences: We found that a personal guide, in the form of Markus Muller-Tenckhoff (guidesinberlin.de/markus/english.htm), was invaluable for a few hours of history. The cityscouter app did some of its best work here as well. Because Berlin is so huge, getting around is a big deal. The app’s map function allows you to overlay subway maps with street maps, vastly simplifying the question of which underground line to take. The Berlin Essential Guide (Sutro Media, $2.99) offers better practical advice than cityscouter, and many more photos. But its maps are less useful.

Where to stay: A word on finding hotels: The apps I bought were not strong on credible recommendations for either eating or hotels. Plenty of hotels were listed, but it was impossible to figure out which ones were better than others. I suggest using Trip Advisor (tripadvisor.com) before you go, and look for a place with some character. The Savoy Hotel Berlin used to be frequented by Greta Garbo, which ought to be good enough for anyone. Opened in 1929, it has the modern touches of flat-screen TVs in the rooms and a pleasantly renovated lobby and restaurant. It’s centrally located in West Berlin, a short walk from the underground. If cigars are your thing, you’ll want to linger at the Casa de Habano in the Times Bar.

Prague

Getting around: Most sights are within walking distance. There is a subway system, but the convenient trams let you soak in the city better.

What to see: From Old Town Square, where it all begins, you walk and walk and walk, sampling street fare (cheese wheels as big as motorcycle tires). Admire a new building on every corner. Take in a concert (we saw mezzosoprano Yvona Skvarova singing Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart and more in an intimate setting inside picturesque St. Nicholas Church.) Board tram 22 to Prague Castle, where you can spend most of a day gawking.

Guide preferences: Here is where I began getting a better handle on the cityscouter app’s advantages and limitations. I loved a function that allows you to build your own “want to visit” list, but the scant few sentences on each sight left me hungry for better info. For iPhone, the Prague — Michelin Travel Guide ($5.99) is intuitive and offers some limited dining and hotel suggestions, but the map function is poor. Just out in late November (too late for our trip, a pity), Prague: DK Eyewitness (Dorling Kindersley, $6.99) for iPad offers the spectacular photos, graphics and background info that have characterized the DK guides in print.

Where to stay: The Grand Hotel Bohemia (grandhotelbohemia.cz) is superbly located, just a few steps from Old Town Square. The elegant hotel was built in the 1920s, so it retains an Old World feel while being completely modern (renovated in 2008), from stylish furnishings to the in-room music system. Ask to take a peek at the ornate ballroom, and soak in the amazing city view from the rooftop terrace. Buffet breakfast is included.

Alex Pulaski/The OregonianFlowers at a market stall in Vienna.

Vienna

Getting around: Convenient subway and tram system, but plan on some longer walks.

What to see: The Kunsthistorisches Museum is packed with portraits by Raphael, Rubens, Michelangelo and more. The striking building interior of marble and gold leaf alone is worth a visit. You could spend a day wandering around Schonbrunn Palace and its grounds, and there are concert opportunities practically everywhere nightly.

Stroll past the lovely cafes, food shops and flower stands of the Naschmarkt over the Wien River, and dawdle along the shopping street of Neubaugasse (next to a honey shop I saw a hobby shop with an Oregon Lumber Co. train in the window).

Mostly, at every opportunity, stop for a slice of heavenly pastry at one of Vienna’s omnipresent cafes. Some of our favorites (the research was extensive): Cafe Diglas, Cafe Central and Cafe Sperl.

Guide preferences: Personal guide Niki Koenig (email: niki_koenig72@yahoo.de) was indispensable, as remarkable for his good humor and patience as his encyclopedic mind. The cityscouter app performed the same as its counterparts for Berlin and Vienna. Vienna Map Offline (FidesReef, $2.99) was frustrating, and basically unnecessary because the cityscouter app has adequate mapping. A number of instant-translation apps have cropped up over the past year, at least two of them in German for iPad, but English was easily understood everywhere we went in Central Europe. A recent myTaxi app (Intelligent Apps, free) looks useful, promising to get a taxi to you in Germany or Austria with one click.

Where to stay: The Hotel Altstadt (hotel-altstadt-vienna.com) all but oozes charm, and is just a short walk or bus ride away from the tourist magnet of the Inner Ring. The place kind of feels like a comfortable apartment building; tasteful nudes and other art decorate the walls. A satisfying buffet breakfast — on linen and china — is included, and the service (Elizabeth, at the front desk, only giggled when we tried to offer her a tip) is incredibly friendly. Free Wi-Fi. The nearby Das Mobel Cafe is well worth a stop for lunch or dinner.

Alex Pulaski/The OregonianWater garden outside Salzburg.

Salzburg

Getting around: Rent a bike or borrow one (see below) from your hotel, and pedal along the scenic Salzach River. You’ll need to park it and walk through scenic Old Town.

What to see: When you just can’t stand sampling another chocolate or strolling past one more shop window filled with gorgeous clothing in picturesque Old Town, grab a taxi and head to Hellbrunn Palace and its trick water features.

Watch out when one of the guides starts rattling his keys, however, because you are going to end up soaked, and laughing.

“I had no choice. I had to do it,” said guide Georg Schneider after the third or fourth time one of our group was hit by spray from an archway, the pavement or even a seat.

Of course, because this is Mozart’s birthplace, you’ll want to take in a concert. We enjoyed the Mozart Dinner Concert (tinyurl.com/mozartdinner) — basically Mozart’s greatest hits, set in an elegant Baroque dining hall by candlelight.

Guide preferences: We experimented with — and ended up being frustrated by — the city’s real-time mobile guide powered by Wikitude (tinyurl.com/salzburgwiki), just based on functionality. The concept is that your smartphone, with its GPS function, becomes your complete guide — hold it up in front of a sight and it feeds you information about it. I struggled to make it work, and between the added cost (my carrier, AT&T, charges an arm and leg for overseas data plans) and the compact, lovely nature of Salzburg, we decided to power the phone off, wander around and enjoy getting lost. As a backup, I ended up downloading a guidebook, Rick Steves Snapshot Munich, Bavaria & Salzburg (Amazon, $6.29), which has all the historical background and user-friendly information that are hallmarks of Steves’ work.

Where to stay: The family-owned Hotel Auersperg (www.auersperg.at) is on a quiet street near the heart of Salzburg. It is ranked No. 4 among Salzburg hotels on tripadvisor.com, and for good reason. Built in 1900, it is exceptionally well cared-for, unprepossessing on the exterior but warm, cozy and modern inside, with extras such as radiant heated bathroom floors. Borrow a complimentary hotel bicycle and explore the city. Very attentive service. Buffet breakfast included. Free Wi-Fi. Be sure to grab a sausage and beer at Die Weisse brewery, just around the corner.

Munich

Getting around: The underground has trains running most routes every five minutes; cabs are plentiful, and if you stay close to the city center your feet can take you most places.

What to see: Beer garden, beer garden, a long stroll past the stalls of the Viktualienmarkt, then another beer garden. Repeat. Ask yourself: How can one petite server carry seven full steins of lager? Must be in the wrists.

Leave a half-day for a sobering exploration (see below) of nearby Dachau Concentration Camp. Though never designed for mass extinction, it had its own crematorium, and standing inside the gas chamber is both sickening and thought-provoking.

Guide preferences: I created a short “want to see list” on cityscouter, and when I needed better information cracked open the Rick Steves guide on the iPad. Our favorite excursion, through Munich Walk Tours (munichwalktours.de), was a group tour of Dachau.

Where to stay: Hotel Exquisit (hotel-exquisit.com) is well-located, a brisk walk from the city center. Rooms are large, comfortable and quaintly decorated, but this hotel is more about value and location than luxury. Some modern touches such as flat-screen TVs. Helpful staff. Breakfast buffet included. It was ranked 10th among 390 Munich hotels on a recent check on tripadvisor.com.

– Alex Pulaski

MARCO ISLAND — If time and space could be transformed, guests of “Oktoberfest in February” could have been seated in the dining room of a riverboat exploring the German Rhine.

The transformation Thursday of Marco Island Yacht Club’s upstairs to a pleasure craft had the signatures of Jill and Ewout de Vries and the staff of America Travel. Steins of imported beer never fell empty. Marc-Allen Barker of Viking River Cruises roamed among diners in traditional lederhosen.

The yacht club’s dining staff complemented the occasion with a buffet even the Deutsche would envy: Bratwurst and knockwurst with sauerkraut, veal shanks, hasenpfeffer (German rabbit stew), spaetzle, hot German potato salad, and abundant pastries and cake.

The evening’s crowning event for its 126 dinner guests was a vicarious trip to foreign lands via the magic of screen. Diners were visually transported to prestigious destinations by the largest riverboat company of its kind on the globe.

“Our cruisers spend more time at their destination and less times aboard ship,” said Darren Dolan, director of business development for Viking River Cruises. “That’s because we take you to the heart of a country rather than skimming its coast.”

Riverboat travel varies from ocean line cruising in remarkable ways. River vessels meander through scenic countryside rather than steaming long distances between destinations. Onshore, the group of fewer than 200 passengers blends into towns and hamlets without interrupting the daily flow of local inhabitants.

Most excursions are included in the cost of the trip, so small groups can explore regions of interest; and in some cases, meet the boat downstream rather than trudge back to the same dockage. All passengers are seated for dinner at 7 p.m., but dress is always casual.

“I tell guests to leave their tuxedos at home,” Dolan said. “We want them to be comfortably immersed in the destination’s culture.”

Local color is never far away. Viking brings town musicians and cultural activities onboard in the evenings for guests’ entertainment. One of Dolan’s favorite venues is sailing through the Wachau Valley on the Danube River.

“The chef prepares local dishes and we bring kegs of local beer and locally produced schnapps onboard,” Dolan said. “We also hire accordion players as you sail down the Danube surrounded by castles and vineyards.”

Dolan praised America Travel for its spot as their No. 1 seller of riverboat cruises. De Vries admitted that he has traveled on every riverboat itinerary.

Viking will be christening four state-of-the-art ships in Amsterdam next month.

“The new ships will be different,” said de Vries. “The corridor will be moved slightly to one side allowing larger cabins with balconies. Suites will have two rooms, a living room and bedroom with French balconies and an extra veranda.”

A special suite at the back of the ship allows a 270-degree view of the countryside.

For those who enjoy exotic travel, de Vries will be escorting a trip to the

Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam in October and has four cabins remaining.

Viking sails primarily in Europe on the main rivers of France, Russia, Germany, Austria and Portugal. In Asia, Viking sails in China, Vietnam and Korea. Bookings are generally open for travel from March to December. The company will have 27 riverboats in service by the end of the year.

Riverboat cruises are typically 8-23 days. An 8-day sailing would take visitors to four countries while a 23-day trip could reach as many as nine. Two popular destinations are the 8-day gastronome sailing through the south of France and a northern France trip that includes the beaches of Normandy, Dolan said.

For more information on Viking River Cruises or for reservations, call America Travel at (239) 642-6616.

Readers of the news of the weird may recall a contest sponsored some years ago by the Guinness beer company in which first prize was a pub in Ireland — title and deed, stools, steins and taps. You needed only to compose a clever essay, throw a few darts and demonstrate that you could pull the perfect pint. Those looking for escape — and unable to find it in the bottom of their mugs stateside — had their opening.