>I think "continental breakfast" refers to custom abroad of having charge for meals included in price of staying at European hotel, in contrast the "American plan" under which meals and rooms were billed separately. So a "continental" breakfast was not likely to be very filling.

In English hotels in the mid seventies there were two types of breakfast - "English" (breakfast cereal, fruit juice, Full Monty (not don't start again) or choice of - bacon, eggs, sausage, fried bread, grilled tomato, toast, marmalade, jam, tea, coffee) or "Continental" (Bread rolls, croissants or whatever). Continental was essentially a posh word for "French", as it didn't include elements of a German breakfast (cheese, cold meat), it was just a way of offering a lighter breakfast to those who preferred it. English hotels tended to include breakfast in the price. These days, many hotels in the UK have replaced this with the ubiquitous breakfast buffet. Things like pancakes, waffles tend to be only served in larger hotels with an American clientele.

In my experience, French hotels always charge separately for breakfast and it ranges from simple bread rolls to more complicated pastries. It can be a very small meal. I remember the look of horror from an elderly US tourist group in Paris who told me, in unision, it seemed, "they gave us bread for breakfast". I don't think that the saying "when in Rome ..." had been mentioned in their "see Europe in a week" itinerary.