Had some time to spend passing through Bendigo and made the Gallery the destination to see. Totally surprised by the size of the gallery and the range of exhibits. They mostly have something in common with the area, either early purchases, local artist etc. Highly recommend to spend some wind down time in this beautiful place. The attached cafe is a great place to enjoy some quality food before or after your visit to the exhibition.

The Paris exhibition fascinates and educates with posters, paintings, photographs and film, all thoughtfully presented. Post-visit, we stopped off at the cafe where we were promptly and courteously directed to a table. Alas, when after 15 minutes no wait staff came to our table, we decided to seek refreshment off-site.

Today was a good opportunity to visit Bendigo (about 2 hours away). We wanted to go to mainly to attend the Bendigo Art Gallery, which has been hosting an international Art Exhibition (titled “Paris - Impressions of Life, 1880 - 1925). It was very good, and allowed us to play the ‘we’ve been there’ game as we viewed the various paintings / prints etc.

This is my second visit for a major exhibition- this time was Paris 1880-1925. The Bendigo Art Gallery does premier exhibitions very well. The staff were friendly and helpful, although the cafe and the gift shop are both somewhat overpriced. ($11 for a pain au chocolat? Obscene!)

This was a wonderful exhibition show casing life in Paris between 1880 and 1923. Paintings, clothing, furniture and black and white film segments from the day show the everyday life of Parisians and the changes wrought by technology. It was very well done. The galleries permanent collection is excellent. We had lunch at the Art gallery cafe afterwards which was also good.

Wow! What a wonderful exhibition! Paris during the Belle Epoch lived up to all our expectations. Not only where the paintings and items (lots of beautiful women's dresses) evocative of the times, but they were exquisitely displayed. Our time at the gallery was finished off with a delicious French themed lunch in the cafe. We were very glad we had booked as it was very busy on the day, but our table was ready, and the staff were friendly and efficient. Initially, we thought we had over ordered, but everything was perfect, and we finished it all off with a local bottle of sparkling wine, also good. Very happy to recommend both the gallery and the cafe.

We had a fantastic few days in Bendigo and while there we travelled on the 302 tram, visited the art gallery, the Chinese garden, went down the gold mine and walked through the beautiful park a few times. We also visited the Stuppa just outside Bendigo which was very impressive. In terms of dining we had lunch at Beachworth Bakery, high tea at Maldon Rose (very nice) and dinner at a really nice Indian restaurant called food o’clock. We attempted to have dinner at The Shamrock Hotel but unfortunately our order got lost between placing it and the kitchen. We waited just over an hour before we checked what was happening.

A pleasant (inexpensive) 2 hour train trip from Melbourne and an easy 15 min walk from the station found us at this spacious gallery. We particularly enjoyed the “Watercolour Dreaming” exhibition which was a revelation. There is a classy range of gifts in the small store but we were sorry there were no images from the exhibition which we could have bought to remind us.