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There's a new attraction on the block to satisfy new-millennium-Britain's celebrity cravings: the Hollywood-style bus tour. Four times daily, minibuses leave from near Madame Tussauds celebrity waxwork museum in Baker Street, central London to offer four kinds of tour: of celeb homes, film locations, famous musical spots and places associated with pop culture. Homes visited include houses lived in by Madonna, Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Jimi Hendrix, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison. The film and music locations include places from the Harry Potter movies, the Hugh Grant film, Notting Hill, various James Bond locations and former haunts of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and the Clash. The pop culture bus stops at everything from the Ritz Hotel to Abbey Road and the former home of Wallis Simpson—the American who married British king, Edward VIII, forcing him to abdicate the throne. Trips take 90 minutes, cost $38. thecelebrityplanet.com. MORE Budget Travel's London coverage

Joe Routon is a longtime contributor to my Budget Travel, and we've spotlighted his images on our site and on the cover of Budget Travel's June 2009 issue. We recently noticed he often takes sharp images of his food, so we asked him for some insights. What prompts you to take a photo of your meal? Anytime I go to a special restaurant or go on a trip abroad, I photograph my food. It's fun, and it provides a visual record that will help me remember how much I enjoyed the meal. I love food and I love photography—combining the two is a great joy. Probably my favorite image is "Mexican Dessert" [shown, above] which shows a dish of mango ice cream topped with fresh strawberries. I took the photo for a friend who had just opened a restaurant, Tortilla Press in Collingswood, N.J. He needed pictures of several dishes. In return, I got to eat the food. Any advice to others on photographing food in a restaurant setting? Most professional food photographers use lights, but I prefer to use natural light, sometimes with a reflector disk or two. I select a table near the window and, with my camera on a tripod, take many photos of each dish, rotating the plate and shooting it from different levels, high and low, and different angles. I also vary the aperture setting to try different depths of field. It's important to work quickly—food tends to "wilt" after a few minutes. For that reason, I'll set up the shot with a "stand-in," a piece of fruit or a crumpled bag; so, when the food is placed in front of me, I'm ready to start shooting immediately. Do you have any professional experience that trained you for food photography? I'm a portrait painter by profession. After studying music in college I went to seminary to get the master of sacred music degree, after which I served as an organist/choir director in a Methodist church in Tennessee for 10 years. With my wife (also an organist) and three small children, I moved north to study portrait painting in N.Y.C. at the Art Students League and at the National Academy of Design. I worked as a newspaper photographer to help pay my way through art school. After a few years, my wife and I moved south to Haddonfield, N.J. The publisher of The Haddonfield Times asked if I would be the paper's restaurant reviewer/critic, so I did that for a year, just for fun. I quit after I started gaining weight. It was a real ego trip to go into a fine restaurant and see my review framed and hanging on the wall or taped to the front window. Has your painting influenced the way you take photographs of food in any way? When I paint, I prefer natural light, so that's a carryover. It's much easier for me to get natural colors with natural light. Composition is extremely important, whether painting portraits or photographing food, and a little knowledge of color helps. I'm careful about arranging colors that complement each other, and I try to avoid photographing food on orange or blue plates. I prefer simple white dishes. CALLING ALL READERS Give Us Your Best Food Shots! We're now looking for your photos of the tastiest meals you've eaten while traveling. The best will be featured in an upcoming article in Budget Travel. Tag your photo "food and drink" to make sure other my Budget Travel members can see and rate it. UPLOAD NOW

On Saturday, September 25, Smithsonian is hosting its sixth-annual Museum Day, with hundreds of cultural institutions around the country offering free admission. Tickets are available now. All you have to do is go to the Museum Day site and fill out the form, and your ticket will be e-mailed to you. Print it out and bring it to your museum of choice; it's good for free general admission for two people at any one participating museum. (Note: You have to designate which museum you'll be visiting when you sign up for the ticket. And only one ticket per household is allowed.) As of right now, 940 museums have signed on, with an expected 1,500 to be taking part by the actual day of the event. Last year, over 300,000 museumgoers visited the 1,300 participating institutions. To decide where to spend your time that day, use the site's museum finder. And for the first time, this year's sponsor, Toyota, is providing on-site activities, including docent tours, interactive trivia contests, and giveaways, at five of the museums: the Dallas Museum of Art (normal admission $10); the Adler Planetarium in Chicago ($10); the Autry National Center in L.A. ($9); the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Mass. ($10); and the Tampa Museum of Art ($10). A few others you may want to check out: • The OZ Museum, in Wamego, Kans. ($7). "There's no place like" this tribute to all things Dorothy and friends. • Scotchtown, in Beaverdam, Va. ($8). No, this isn't a liquor-lover's paradise; it's the home of founding father Patrick Henry, of "Give me liberty, or give me death!" fame. • The Pro Football Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio ($20). Museum Day falls as the NFL season is just getting started, and on the heels of the August 7 enshrinement of the Hall's Class of 2010, which includes Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. • The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, in New York City ($22). Renovated just two years ago, the historic aircraft carrier is one of the best values, saving you $22! • The Atomic Testing Museum, in Las Vegas ($12). The once top-secret nuclear test site, just a mile from the Strip, offers a radiation-free simulation of what it was like to watch an atomic explosion, complete with vibrating seats and a blast of air. Bonus: If you're feeling a little more like the great outdoors, September 25 is also Public Lands Day, one of the few days during the year when nearly 150 of the country's national parks that normally charge admission ($3-$25) are free.