Honest Opinion / re-work of an image for photo contest

This is one of my favorite images I have taken (Top 5). I reworked it to rid some of the overly cooked HDR effect and did some clone work.

What do you think? Don't compare it to the one below, just your opinion on this one (Judges will only see this one)

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2875/9...4ce57186_b.jpg
New Orleans Royal St by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

Here was my original PP version

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5472/9...257b92b4_b.jpg
the gallery by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr