Been a long time since I've been to EU and even longer since I've taken a train, but planning travel for the spring, this is a family trip, and as part of this, booking a TGV Luxembourg to Paris.

Just wondering about seating and what might be best. Like I said, it's been years since I've been on TGV, and then, it was mostly on the 'inferior' old, single-decker orange trains to Switzerland (forget what they were called at the time, but guess the services to Switzerland now are branded as Lyria). Since the 1st fare is really not much more than 2nd, going to do 1st, and I think since we are 4, will do the 4 seats facing each other with a table in the middle, or is there a reason it would be better to do 2 rows of 2, facing forward?

Also, for lower vs. upper deck, any good opinion on which is better. I'm thinking upper, since I feel like the view might be better which would be better, especially for kids, but would love to hear what others with experience on these trips about this and other factors. Looks like the 1st class cars are also the first three on the train, any reason to specifically select the front car or one of the two cars further back? Also curious about service - since there is nothing about snacks/meals, I'm assuming there is none provided (it's only a 2.5 hour run), but also assume there would be a car where we can purchase snacks? Would love some insight on that, as well.

Appreciate hearing opinions from folks who are familiar.