2013 Tour de France

Following the 2013 Tour de France that is happening from 29th June 2013 to 21st July 2013, Google has made the above doodle to commemorate it (as it will be the 100th one).

Anyway, the Tour de France, is an annual multiple stage bicycle race that is held primarily in France but may occasionally pass through nearby countries.

With the first ever race being initially organized (in 1903) to increase the paper sales for the magazine L'Auto, its pretty amazing in my opinion that it has lasted for over a century (and I'm sure there will be many more to come).

Antoni Gaudi's 161st Birthday

Today's Google doodle celebrates the 161st birthday of Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, a Spanish architect who was skilled in a good series of crafts such as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. But not only that, he was most noted for his talent in integrating all that he had learnt into his architectural works, eventually earning him the nickname of "God's Architect" as well as being beatified.

Father's Day 2013

Celebrating Father's Day 2013, Google especially created this slots-like mix-n-match doodle, matching various sorts of male cartoonish heads, bodies and legs to create interesting-looking fathers.

Happy Dragon Boat Festival 2013

Today we have Google's own version of a dragon boat to celebrate a Chinese traditional festival, called DuanWu Jie (Duanwu Festival).

Though there are a couple of folk traditions and myths with their own interpretation to the origins of this festival, the most predominant one would be that of Qu Yuan who drowned himself in a river and people throwing rice dumplings (zongzi) into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat his body.

Maurice Sendak's 85th Birthday

Today, the doodle shown on Google's homepage features an animated clip of creatures, characters and settings. Apparently, these beings and scenes were first given their forms and lives through the hands of a talented American illustrator and writer of children's books, Maurice Bernard Sendak.