Funny you mention it, one I sometimes feels lacks contrast and othertimes I look at it I like the delicate look to it. I can also see the merit in the crop re 2. I just ramped up the contrast in 1 as per your post. Looked at it and thought wow. Left it five minutes then thought it was just too much and reverted back. I could then change my mind tomorrow. Sometimes I like the subtleties of it, and other times I feel it lacks the impact factor as you've sort of said in your post. Othertimes I am glad its not a hyper real Joe Cornish style rendition of the location and others I think I could get more from it. Of all the images I've taken its the one I am least sure off PP wise in terms of contrast. The crop I would never change though.
If you could see the RAW, its so flat and faded out compared to 1 its not funny. Very bright with few shadow areas but not clipped. I knew the colour was in there but it needed a more contrast than I normally add and a whack more saturation to get it out (but I knew it was there)....
Normally I shoot in golden light so the contrast and saturation plus curves/levels adjustments are not that much.