Carried by the wings of Swiss efficiency, I set down at Zürich airport. I was handed a bar of Lindt chocolate and Grüezi-ed by a man with a white-crossed red flag under one, a gun under the other arm. This was Heidiland, land of Kuckucksuhren and Swiss Army knives, home of all cheeses and all money. Its art and architecture? Wooden, alpine huts and banks, of course.

If this encapsulates your mental picture of Switzerland, you've been in cloud cuckoo land for too long. Blow away the cobwebs and let me introduce you to the real Zürich.

People say first impressions count. One glance was all it took me to be sold. Neat as a needle, set picturesquely against the backdrop of mountains, Zürich is spoilt with architectural highlights. I was drawn to its old town like a moth to the candle. Guided by the scent of history, I took a stroll down memory lane, through little alleys and narrow roads, stumbling across Grossmünster, Zürich's landmark, and Cabaret Voltaire, the birthplace of the Dada art movement. Treading on the path taken by Hugo Ball and Hans Arp, I felt intriguingly philosophical. As expected, this was a city steeped in history. But just that? Prepare for a surprise…

Shining like a new penny, the Kunsthaus lured me into a maze of corridors with art work so exciting that I vanished for hours. When I re-emerged, I, like the Kunsthaus a few months earlier, had been remade. A newly born advocate of art and hungry for more, I homed on the local trendsetters of modern art and design, the Museum of Design, the Migros Museum and the Kunsthalle. I set out to conquer them all and take in a few "details" on the way.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I should have taken the Stadelhofen station and the Credit Suisse Lichterhof as a hint and rearranged my schedule- engrossed in the unusual architectural designs, the curved, the clear lines, the play of light and contrasts, I eyed every dragons and studied every shapes- like a child who had just learnt how to crawl, I was unstoppable. Having viewed Le Corbusier's last assignment, the Heidi-Weber-Haus at the lakeside Zürichhorn, a truly timeless place, I visited Haus Konstruktiv, a fomer powerstation at the Sihl, "in passing" only to realise that darkness was already crawling into the valley -there simply wasn't enough hours in the day. Sharing my sorrows with a lady with a cart and flowers at the train station, she, who had dedicated her life to the fare-well of travellers, pointed me towards Puls5, the trendy area.

Standing amidst a fusion of old and new, industrial and modern design in Züri-West, I was overwhelmed by a spectacle of shapes, colours, materials and light, grateful for the suggestion. This wasn't as much an area of shifting sands as a piece of art. I watched the place transform into a haven for night-owls and party-makers - and joined right in.

What it was it like? Well, that my friend, I will tell you next time...

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