We were having a conversation in French after a concert, and I was wondering how I'd express the same idea in German. I would have said:
Ich habe die letzten Tage damit verbracht, eingepfercht in meinem Büro über modrigen, alten Dokumenten zu brüten. Es ist wirklich eine angenehme Abwechslung, ab und zu hinauszugehen und sich zu vergnügen. Dieser schönen Musik zuzuhören ... Ahhh, das bringt einen wieder auf andere Gedanken, was?
Here I was talking about how going to a concert on holiday makes for a nice diversion after spending an entire week cooped up in an office. Essentially, I wanted to express the idea of:
- Listening to this beautiful music... Ahh, it really blows away the cobwebs!
The expression "blow away the cobwebs" comes in handy when you want to say:
- Doing some light exercise or going for a little walk etc helps you feel physically more energetic as well as mentally more alert.
And this dual aspect -- that is, both physically and mentally refreshed -- doesn't exactly make it easy to translate it into other languages.
I was just chatting with one of my travelling companions, a German speaker, on this matter, and we were talking about how the expression "jdn. (wieder) auf andere Gedanken bringen" refers mainly to a mental aspect. If so, how can I compensate for the lack of a physical connotation?
How is this idea "blow away the cobwebs" commonly/idiomatically expressed in German?