I like the first shot a great deal, the detail retained, the dof used and the duotone conversion really suits the subject matter. Like Dave said the second pair of boots in the top of the frame let it down a little and weaken the overall impact.
I can speak with some experience about the subject matter in the second shot
While I was attempting my shot that Dave has already pointed out, I also received many strange looks and people went out of their way to avoid their feet being in the shot. In the end I just sat on the floor and waited until people got used to me being there and ignored me. This then allowed me to take many different shots at different shutter speeds and apertures. Eventually I got the right settings and the right subjects too.
Again your shot suffers from parts of your main subjects not being completely in frame (as there is only two this is quite vital) and although the direction of travel is into the space as it is such a tight crop it doesn’t quite work. Also the main focus is slightly nearer to the lens than where your subjects are, the cobbles are sharper than the feet. This again weakens the shot. I think that the idea for this shot (and series) is actually very good, but you should attempt to re-photograph the moving feet to get a better result.
Out of the two shots here the first is the stronger photo but I think you have a better second shot in you some where, you just need to make some time and get a cold bum to get it
Hope that helps