First off, exactly a year ago, I had no idea how little I knew about Switzerland. Now that I have been here almost a dozen times in the past 12 months, and find myself halfway through a three-week stay, I can see that I didn't know anything.

What I have learned recently is that the fact that I didn't know a lot about Switzerland (but thought I did) is exactly the most Swiss thing there is. They're hard to pigeonhole, those Swiss.

It's difficult to describe what the Swiss generally look like - they seem to be very outdoorsy - and I get no direct visual association of "Switzerland", like I get with, say, "France", "Spain", "Germany", or "Italy". Not immediately anyway.

If I think about it for a while, I can see a huge Toblerone chocolate bar, then cheese fondue.

Which, interestingly enough, I have not seen a glimpse of here. Yet.