The Traveler: Julie Aasgaard of Eden Prairie.

The scene: A patchwork of green is punctuated by farm buildings near Lake Lucerne, a sprawling lake with a twisting shoreline in central Switzerland.

The destination: "This was taken from the Bürgenstock Resort area, a recently restored historic resort complex located up on the cliffs overlooking Lake Lucerne in Switzerland," Aasgaard wrote in an e-mail. "While the views of the lake were also spectacular, this shot is a view of the mountainside surrounding that area, which really provided a beautiful picture of rural Swiss life. It was a very peaceful setting — just the sounds of cow bells as they wandered back from grazing." The resort sits beside the lake, and guests can take a funicular, a cliff-side elevator, from the water up to the resort. She called Switzerland a hiker's paradise, "a small country that is full of beautiful scenery — small villages nestled in the mountains, high snow-capped peaks and picturesque lakes."

Getting the shot: Aasgaard waited for the sun to come out from behind the clouds and then snapped this photo with her iPhone X. "I was hoping for sunnier skies, but the clouds actually added some texture," she wrote, adding that the photo "seemed to capture the beauty and peacefulness of the landscape, contrasting the rural farmland with the surrounding mountains."

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