You say London is too expensive? Codswallop. Their pound is down. Their credit is crunching. Now is the time to scrounge our ailing greenbacks and trade them in for some equally ailing pink and purple notes and faded gold coins.

NEW YORK — This city is crazy for cupcakes. There are cupcake classes and cupcake tours, lines down the block at cupcake bakeries, a cupcake tea at a five-star hotel, and a cupcake truck

VENICE — To anyone crammed in a water taxi on a hot August day, Venice seems as full of tourists as ever.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Venezuela should be a tourist mecca. It boasts the world’s highest waterfall, snowcapped Andean mountain peaks and white-sand beaches dotting one of the longest

Juliette Lewis has a reputation for being somewhat of a wild child. But the 36-year-old actress-singer says she is mellower than people would think. “I would rather be on the road with my band or traveling than out partying,” says Lewis. The actress, who co-stars with Drew Barrymore in “Whip It!” and stars opposite Jennifer Aniston in next year’s “The Baster,” opens for the Pretenders on a U.S. tour that comes to the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield on Saturday. Her new album, “Terra Incognita,” will be in stores Sept. 9.

Some of the week’s best travel bargains

It’s been a quarter century since I last backpacked and climbed the Mount Zirkel- Dome Peak Wilderness Area, but armed with a new guidebook, we set off to spend a few days exploring.

Maybe it’s time to have a Colorado adventure. Whether for one day, a weekend or a whole week of savoring the rare chance to follow your heart and not be bound to airplane schedules and delays, the Centennial State offers a unique way to explore its past at a variety of historical sites near and far.

The week’s best travel bargains around the globe include a Vermont ski trip, and cruise discounts.

“Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America’s Baseball Landmarks” ($16.95, Santa Monica Press) gives the true baseball fan a quality stop for nearly every trip in the United States.