a solo adventure

I made my first solo adventure yesterday. I ventured downtown while Donald was doing his studies. I made my way to the subway. Once at the toll booth I had the attendant's attention holding out maps and speaking english. It worked well. They made sure to have someone meet me at the train with a ramp to get on and one to get off. Next I needed to make a transfer to a different subway line.

Once I found the next subway line they tried to tell me that I couldn't bring my scooter on that line. There was some confusion and she told me I could do it just this one time. So I went down and she got on the train with me. When I got to the other side we met up with two other attendants. Next thing I knew we were sitting in front of an escalator. I got off the scooter and they took it up the escalator! When I got off they showed me a button to push when I came back that would alert them to come up and help me, although they would only be avaiable for the next 45 minutes so I knew I would have to find my way to the other station. They showed me how to get to the temple and I headed off.

The first temple I found was not the one I had set out for but had a beautiful garden and I took off my shoes and climbed inside. I listened to a woman sing and then took some pictures of the garden.





Eventually I found the buddhist temple that had inspired the journey, the Sanjūsangen-dō Temple. This is the kannon bodhisatva, the 1000 arm kannon. I snuck in right before closing. They cleaned off my wheels and allowed me in.




I left here and wandered through downtown Kyoto, past the river and pachinko halls. I found Kyoto to be surprisingly metropolaton. Eventually with some guidance I found the station and then the elevator. I got onto a very packed train, sharing the car with another wheelchair. When my stop came, an attendant was waiting with a ramp. I got off and found my way back to Donald's without a wrong turn.