The Royal Parks

London has 5,000 acres of historic parkland spread throughout the city. Each park has it's own attractions, but they all offer a peaceful retreat from the clamor of the urban city. The eight parks together are known as the Royal Parks. Today our outing took us to The Regent's Park, which covers 410 acres and houses the Queen Mary's Gardens with over 400 varieties of  roses. Our photography focus for today was panoramas, but with so many roses at our fingertips we could not resist taking close-ups as well.

Southeast Entrance to Regent's Park

A Collage of Roses from Queen Mary's Gardens

A Perfect Pink Rose

The Regent's Park includes Primrose Hill, which offers an expansive view of the city in the distance, and is famous for being the setting for Mary Poppins "Let's Go Fly a Kite".

Cricket and Soccer at Regent's Park

The Regent's Park has nearly 100 acres designated for sports activities.

Buckingham Palace

During this past week we also visited St. James Park and Greenwich Park. St. James Park is bordered by Buckingham Palace and the mall, where tourists flock to see the changing of the guard.

Changing of the Guard proceeding down the Mall

View from the top of the hill by the Royal Observatory

Greenwich Park is home to the Prime Meridian Line and Royal Observatory which we visited on Thursday,  July 22. Nearby is the National Maritime Museum, which had a fascinating exhibit called Atlantic Worlds.