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Bienvenue Puy-St-Martin read the sign, welcoming me as I drove into the small French village hosting the 2003 Journee Mondiale (World Congress) sponsored by the French Association for the Turning of
Art in Wood (AFTAB).
My journey to Puy-St-Martin began in the summer of 2001 when I attended an eccentric turning class at the Arrowmont School of Crafts.
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My instructor, Jean-Francois Escoulen, was just starting to organize the 2003 Congress. It sounded exciting and a good excuse to go to Europe, so I started contributing to my "France Travel
Fund".
Information started arriving in the mail late last year and it was time to decide if I had enough saved, could get the time off from work, still had a valid passport, etc ...
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Finally, I sent in my registration fee and started searching the internet for cheap airfares.
I arrived in Paris on the Thursday before the event and, having spent a few days there visiting all the
major tourist sites, rented a car and headed south.
I meandered along the back roads for several days (lost mostly) and arrived in Puy-St-Martin early on the first day of the Congress.
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