Up early for breakfast and a wander around Montreal

Saturday morning around 0815hrs. I stood in the middle 

of the road to take this shot. Isn't life nicer without cars?

The phrase 'wall-to-wall meetings' applied to Friday, but now it's Saturday so officially it's a day off. I was up with lark and wandering around Montreal looking for a café to have breakfast. And to be honest I didn't really find one and ended up going into a place on Sherbrooke, across the road from my hotel.

Now you see it...

What's amazing is that, on a Saturday morning in central Montreal, around a quarter past eight, there's virtually no traffic on the roads. Compare Montreal with London or, dare I say it, even Croydon and check out the pic above for evidence of how quiet things are here.

... now you don't!

So I'm wandering around, I find all the well-known brand names, Claire's Accessories, FCUK, La Senza – yes, even Theo Paphitis has made his mark here – and then I head back up the hill towards Sherbrooke and the Presse Café, which sells a range of pastries and stuff, all the usual fayre you might expect from a coffee shop.

I ordered a cup of tea plus eggs, bacon and toast and while it wasn't the same dimensions as yesterday's mammoth feast downstairs, it was fine and, as you can see from the photos, I finished it, bar a strip or two of bacon. Not bad for just $6.95 with a banana thrown in. The tea, by the way, was much nicer than yesterday's.

Having already walked some distance along Sherbrooke and then down and back up again, this time I headed east (I think) along Sherbrooke (it's a road) and then down into the Latin quarter, back and round again and now I'm back in my hotel.

Shortly, I'll be checking out a Bixi bike. I'll probably ride down to the river and then back again – not that I haven't had my exercise for the day already.

Tomorrow afternoon, I fly down to Atlanta, Georgia with Delta Airlines and then I'm on the red-eye back to the UK, getting back Wednesday morning around 10am.