Not far from Avesnois : the Florentine of Hirson.

Hirson is the first town you can meet when leaving the Avesnois and the department North and the North Country (50° until 51° North latitude) going to the South East. It is also not far from Belgium but a little more in the East to Avesnois. The railway station of Hirson like the railway station of Aulnoye-Aymeries was a long time on the railway road from London to Milan called Calais-Bâle. And here also, although there is no so much railway-trafic like in Aulnoye, you can find old testimonies of the intense railway activity of the past. Here seaking where a paint and photos exhibition with european artists take place, I came in a little road ending in the fields (that have to become a big road) and just stopped my car to take this picture of the "Florentine" of Hirson, a tower to control the shunting of the treins. I already published last year a picture of the Florentine of Aulnoye-Aymeries which became a cultural center. Near the one of Hirson you can find somewhat else : a big round place where the engines where turning around to take the right way and come to the right trein.

Avesnois belongs to the Thiérache and a big part of the Thiérache is in the neighbour department of Aisne, which belongs not like Avesnois to the Nord-Pas de Calais but to the Picardie, which are the administrative regions. A part of the Thiérache is also in Belgium. The part of the Thiérache belonging to Picardie is called "Thiérache de l'Aisne".

Perle de Rosée